There were also increases in the amount of amphetamine and MDMA seizures in Ireland.
There was a fourfold increase in cocaine seizures in Ireland over one year, according to new data.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has published a new report which provides an overview of the European drug situation up to the end of 2020.
The report – titled European drug report 2021: trends and developments – states that Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) reported around a fourfold increase in analyses of cocaine seizures between 2018 and 2019.
The FSI’s analysis of seizures containing cocaine in the period between 2016 and 2019 shows the content of cocaine in these samples has remained “broadly consistent over this time period with a steady increase at street level”.
According to the EMCDDA, this is consistent with European data and the observed increase in the supply of cocaine in Europe.
The data also shows that cannabis herb has been the most prominent drug seized in Ireland since 2010.
The FSI also recorded about a threefold increase in the number of analyses of amphetamine seizures in 2019 relative to 2018.
FSI data also showed that the number of MDMA analyses in 2019 was more than three times higher than in 2018.
As part of its overview, the report states: “All routine indicators suggest that at the beginning of 2020 there was widespread availability of a diverse range of drugs of increasingly high purity or potency on the European drug market.”
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