harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing Europe market

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New harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing market for traffickers amid violence and corruption hurting local communities across Europe, the EU's agency monitoring drugs and addiction said Friday.

The grim finding was part of the agency's annual report. It also said that drug users in Europe are now exposed to a wider range of substances of high purity as drug trafficking and use across the region have quickly returned to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels.

Cannabis remains the most-used illicit substance in Europe, the agency found, with some 22.6 million Europeans over the age of 15 having used it in the last year. Cocaine seizures are "historically high" and new synthetic drugs whose effects on health are not well documented are worrying officials.

In 2022, 41 new drugs were reported for the first time by the agency.

"I summarize this with the phrase: 'everywhere, everything, everyone,'" said European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Director Alexis Goosdeel.

"Established illicit drugs are now widely accessible and potent new substances continue to emerge," Goosdeel added. "Almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market."

Among the new popular substances, ketamine and nitrous oxide — so-called laughing gas — are raising concern over reported cases of bladder problems, nerve damage and lung injuries associated with users. Alongside the high availability of heroin on the continent, synthetic opioids are on the rise and have been linked to deaths by overdose in Baltic countries.

The report said the opioids situation in Europe is not comparable with the dramatic picture in North America, where overdoses caused by fentanyl and other opioids have fueled a drug crisis. But the agency warned that this group of drugs is a threat for the future, with a total of 74 new synthetic opioids identified on the market since 2009.