Ireland’s young people are the second-biggest users of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, in the EU, according to law enforcement study.
The study by Europol and the European Union Drugs Agency shows consumption of the drug is rising again across Europe following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regarding use of MDMA, Irish young people are second only to drug users in the Netherlands, where much of the world’s supply is manufactured. According to the study, 6.5 per cent of Irish people aged between 15 and 34 had taken the drug in the previous year.
The next-biggest consumers in the EU were the Czech Republic (4.7 per cent), Germany (2.7 per cent) and Croatia (2.6 per cent).
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The study found that about 12.3 million Europeans aged between 15 and 64 have used MDMA at least once in their life.
Europe is the global centre for production of the drug. The EU retail market is worth at least €594 million annually while 72.4 million ecstasy tablets are consumed per year across the 27 member states.
“This value does not include the considerable additional profits that are generated by the production, trafficking and distribution of MDMA produced in the European Union to external markets,” the report’s authors write.
Prices for the drug have remained relatively stable in the past decade. Prices tend to be lower closer to the main centres of production in the Netherlands and Belgium, the report states.
The consumption of MDMA among young people in Ireland has grown six-fold since 2012 when just 0.9 per cent reported taking it in the previous year. It is now the second-most used illegal drug in Ireland behind cannabis.
During the previous decade, the average strength of the drug increased significantly. However, there are signs this trend is reversing.
The average strength of a ecstasy tablet dropped from 170mg in 2019 to 144mg in 2022, although there are still high-strength tablets available “which poses a high risk to users,” the report states.
The closure of night-time venues during the Covid-19 pandemic saw a significant drop in demand for MDMA, reflected in fewer seizures of the drug and fewer production facilities being dismantled.
That trend now appears to be reversing, the report states, with MDMA production in the Netherlands returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Between 2018 and 2022, 43 per cent of MDMA seized globally was found in Europe.
EU countries are producing MDMA in such quantities that Europol has warned of a “reverse cocaine route”, where large quantities of the drug are shipped to Latin America, which is becoming “an increasingly important market”.
Germany, Bulgaria and Belgium have been identified as international distribution hubs, with most global smuggling using air or maritime routes.
“In some cases, criminals based in the EU and Latin America engage in barter deals, where MDMA is exchanged for cocaine, with no monetary exchange,” the report states.
