Prague - Czechs are consuming increasing amounts of cocaine, but marihuana and methamphetamine remain the country's most popular illicit drugs, according to a report published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
"The number of Czech cocaine users is increasing, but they still represent a smaller percentage of the population than in the rest of Europe," says Viktor Mravčík, head of the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
According to the EMCDDA report, 3.5 million Europeans aged 15 to 34 have taken cocaine over the past year, with the highest number of users living in Denmark, Spain and Ireland.
Most Czech users generally stick to marihuana and the club drug Ecstasy. Young Czechs are the second most frequent marihuana smokers in Europe, after Spaniards. Among Czechs aged 15 to 24 years, 44 percent have smoked marihuana at least once and 15 percent smoke it regularly.
Mravčík says that after the number of marihuana users was growing in the past years, it now starts to stabilize. The number of Ecstasy users is even declining, which Mravčík links to the decreasing popularity of techno music among young people.
Pervitin remains top intravenous drug
Of intravenous drugs, the most popular is methamphetamine, locally known as pervitin. Its popularity largely owes to the easy availability of Paralen, the local brand of paracetamol, which can easily be converted into pervitin.
The National Anti-Drug Centre (NPDC), a unit of Czech police, has proposed that, starting next year, the sale of this fever and pain killer commonly used for flu should be limited to one pack per person per week.
By restricting the sale of Paralen - or its imported version Panadol - the police hope to eradicate the production and distribution of pervitin.
"They will have to look for new, more demanding sources, and police will have a better chance to uncover the producers," said NPDC head Jiří Komorous.
The NPDC drew inspiration from Australia, where a similar measure helped police to obliterate small methamphetamine laboratories; only several large drug gangs survived.
"It may sound paradoxical, but these large pervitin producers are easier to track and paralyse. If you liquidate such a large organisation, the effect is much greater," says Komorous.
