FOR YEARS European authorities have fearful {that a} drug epidemic on the dimensions of America’s opioid crisis would arrive on the continent’s shores. Medication like fentanyl, an artificial opioid 50 occasions extra highly effective than heroin, are estimated to kill round 70,000 People yearly.
Europe has, up to now, managed to flee fentanyl’s grip. Common well being care all through a lot of the area signifies that most sufferers are capable of deal with the supply of their ache, as an alternative of turning to addictive medical opioids for a fast repair. However their uptake is larger in some European international locations than others. This 12 months’s report by the EU’s European Monitoring Centre for Medication and Drug Dependancy reveals the place drug overdoses are estimated to be occurring most steadily, and the extent to which opioids are accountable.
