ANOTHER death due to a suspected drug overdose has once more highlighted the increasing problem of narcotics in Cyprus.
Twenty-four year old Christophoros Georgiou (aka Assos) from Yeroskipou was found unconscious on his bed by his father just before 10pm yesterday. An ambulance took Georgiou to a Paphos Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Upon searching a room at the back of the house often used by the young man, police found two used syringes, aluminum foil and two burnt spoons with traces of white powder believed to be heroin.
The 24-year old had been arrested recently as a suspect for two cases of theft from bakeries. An autopsy is set to be performed on him today.
According to figures presented at a recent conference put on by the Drug Law enforcement agency, during 2005 the police reported a total of 612 drug cases, which include 43 cases of drug smuggling, 134 cases of possession, 251 cases of possession and use, 14 of drug cultivation, 102 cases of possession and supply, and 49 cases of possession with the plan to supply.
In the brief period of January 2005 to May 2005, heroin caused eight deaths, six directly and two indirectly.
The 2005 Annual Report on Drugs, a general report that covers the entire EU region, found that cocaine use is on the rise in Europe. The EMCDDA estimates that roughly nine million people in the European Union, or three per cent of all adults, have tried cocaine, while about 1.5 million (0.5 per cent of adults) have used it in the past month.
Cyprus does not yet offer methadone substitution treatment programmes such as those offered in other European countries. Cyprus also lacks any specialised treatment programmes for specific groups of drug users such as cocaine users. The only treatment centre in Cyprus for adolescents is Perseus.
The Cyprus Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction caused an upset in the National Guard last year after issuing a report saying that 18.7 per cent of national guardsmen had tried drugs. In a written announcement the National Guard rejected the findings, saying they were “without scientific basis.”
