Cannabis is main cause for rehabilitation

By Constantinos Psillides

CANNABIS users were the majority of people seeking drug rehabilitation in Cyprus last year, according to the European Drug Report issued by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

The report said that 57 per cent of people who either entered voluntarily or were ordered to enter a drug rehabilitation programme in 2014 were cannabis users.

Heroin users were a distant second, with 22 per cent of treatment seekers.

The report indicates that cannabis is still the most popular drug in both the EU and Cyprus. The rise in treatment can be attributed to both higher demand and a new protocol introduced by Cyprus police in 2010.

The protocol stipulates that instead of locking up younger drug users (aged 14 to 24), and especially those caught using cannabis, courts force them to complete a rehabilitation programme. The offender is later released without any ramifications from the court.

There was also a significant increase in cannabis seizures.

According to drug squad YKAN head Stelios Sergides, 202 kilos of cannabis were confiscated in 2014 compared to 99 kilos in 2013.

YKAN saw a major drop in heroin use, with only 5 grams being seized in 2014. It also confiscated 31 kilos of cocaine in 2014, compared to just 3 kilos in 2013.

The EMCDDA report notes that ten people died in Cyprus in 2014 as a result of drug use, while in the EU, 6,100 deaths were attributed to drug overdose.

Cocaine is the leading illegal stimulant in the EU, according to the report, noting that synthetic drugs – mainly methamphetamine – are on the rise.

In Cyprus, 50 people have sought treatment for methamphetamine use in 2014.

Regarding the synthetic drugs, EMCDDA reports that 101 new substances were catalogued in 2014 alone. The report points out that half of the 450 synthetic substances known were discovered over the last three years.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.