Even as illicit drugs are becoming more easily available in Luxembourg than ever before, fewer people are dying as a result of illegal drugs use as the number of users has stabilised and supervision, treatment and risk-reduction services improved, said Minister of Health Lydia Mutsch in a report published yesterday by the Luxembourg Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addiction (RELIS).
"The deployment of national action plans on drugs and drug addiction has been accompanied by an overall decrease in overdose deaths in Luxembourg,” said the Minister.
The report estimated that around 2,000 people in Luxembourg are problem drug users, lower than European averages, and observed that the number is dropping.
Heroine use accounted for almost all of the drugs-related deaths in the Grand Duchy, according to forensic data cited in the report, with most victims in their mid 30s.
National Drugs Coordinator, Dr. Alain Origer, said that enhanced supervision services meant that out of some 2,100 drugs overdoses treated, none resulted in a fatal overdose.
On the other hand, injection of cocaine and other stimulants is rising in Luxembourg, with users accounting for an increasing proportion of new HIV infections over the last three years, 21% in 2015, even though treatment and risk-reduction services had improved, including needle exchanges and sterile syringes.
The report attributes this to an increased availability of cocaine, which is now competing with heroine, thanks to improved distrubition networks set up by traffickers. Mixing up powerful drugs cocktails has become popular among highly marginalised communities over the last ten years said the report.
The broadly positive trends did not, however, signal a time for complacency said Minister Mutsch, as drugs channels have also improved making access easier for users.
"If the results of the RELIS 2016 report are generally encouraging, we must remain vigilant: the field of drugs and drug addiction is constantly evolving. Illegal markets, and thus the availability and accessibility of drugs, as well as the consumption behavior of users, are changing rapidly,” she warned.
Thanks to those enhanced networks, more users than ever were found to be buying their drugs directly within Luxembourg. In 2016, 52% of users said they obtained their drugs here, a huge increase against the 15% reported only eight years ago.
Image: Dr Alain Origer and Minister of Health Lydia Mutsch. Photo supplied
