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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
Drug
Use Rises in Spain's Basque Territories
Blanca Garza.
Consumption
of illicit drugs in Spain's Basque territories is among the
highest in Europe and above Spain's average, according to
reports by the governments of Nabarra and of Araba, Bizkaia
and Gipuzkoa, three Basque provinces known as the Baskongadak.
Even as fewer Spanish Basques are using ecstasy (MDMA) and
LSD, an increasing number of them are using cannabis, speed
and cocaine.
While cocaine is less
commonly used than amphetamines or speed, its use is rising.
Out of all 15-25 years-old, one in ten has tried cocaine at
least once, although it is the most popular drug among those
aged 35-49, as revealed by the recently published reports.
The government surveys
revealed that 4.7 percent of adult population have used cocaine,
a rate higher than Spain's average which is 3.3 percent. Spain
has the highest rate of cocaine consumption in Europe. The
rate among Spanish Basques who use cocaine regularly is 2
percent.
The reports also warned
that use of cocaine is spreading among those aged 18 to 22.
According to the director of the Drug-dependency Observatory
of the regional government of Baskongadak, Kontxi Gabantxo,
use of cocaine is gaining prevalence and becoming common among
young adults, especially when partying.
The government data
indicate that consumption of cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine
in the Spanish Basque territories is among the highest in
Europe, with only ectasis and LSD below the European average.
Cannabis, in the form
of marihuana and hashish, remains the most widely available
and commonly used drug across the European Union (EMCDDA 2000).
Use is higher among younger age groups. In the Spanish Basque
territories, drug use is higher among those aged 15 to 25,
according to the surveys, with cannabis as the preferred drug.
Out of all 15-25 year-olds, one in two has tried cannabis
at least once; and 25 percent are regular users.
According to the EU's
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA, 1999), consumption
of hashish among young people increased considerably during
the 1990s, a trend also observed in the Spanish Basque territories.
The outcome of a study
by the Drug-dependency Observatory of the regional government
of Baskongadak reveals that, in this region, 25 percent of
15-75 year-olds have tried cannabis at least once -- European
rates in that age group vary between 10 and 30 percent. Cannabis
consumption is 12.3 percent among Spanish Basques aged 15-75
who use it regularly -- way above Spain's average which is
2.6 percent.
There is no data available
for drug use among the adult population in Nabarra.
According to the government
surveys, at least 5 percent of those aged 15 to 25 use cannabis
on a regular basis.
Amphetamines and speed
are the second most commonly used drugs in the Spanish Basque
territories.
In Baskongadak, 2.9
percent of the adult population use amphetamines regularly
and 5.6 percent have tried it at least once, a high rate compared
to the European average which ranges from 1 to 4 percent (EMCDDA
2000).
U.K. has the highest
rate of amphetamines consumption (10 percent) followed by
Denmark (4 percent) and the Spanish Basque territories.
Speed is another popular
drug in the Spanish Basque territories, especially among those
aged 20 to 24, according to the latest official data.
Alcohol and tobacco
Today, 90 percent
of the adult population in Baskongadak consume alcohol, according
to a government survey. One in two adults drinks alcohol regularly.
With respect to Nabarra,
the rate of alcohol consumption among the adult population
is 74.5 percent, and one in every three drink alcohol regularly.
Out of all 20-24 years-old
in Baskongadak, three in four drink alcohol regularly. In
Nabarra, alcohol consumption is higher among those aged 16-24
but only 46 percent admit drinking regularly.
Conversely, the rate
of regular tobacco users in Nabarra is 32.5 percent, lower
than the total for Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa which is 42.6
percent.
A word of caution:
because of the illegality of drugs, both the use of and the
trade in drugs are mostly hidden, which leads to a certain
degree of uncertainty. Although there are indicators available,
such as prevalence figures to estimate the extent of drug
use, these data also have their limitations. Not all countries
are performing drug use surveys, some data only refer to very
specific populations such as people in treatment, and sometimes
data are hardly reliable due to the poor methodology of data
collecting.
The absence of sound
studies on the prevalence of drug use carried out on a regular
basis in several countries, explains why one can only make
but cautious statements in this regard, let alone making comparisons
between countries. Although standardising reporting systems
are progressing, for example by the EMCDDA, there always remains
a degree of uncertainty when talking about patterns and trends
in drug use.
COMMENTARY
The latest data about
tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use in the Spanish Basque
territories reveal a worrisome scenario for all of us. Apart
from the respect of individual freedom that should prevail
when analyzing the consumption of drugs, legal or illegal,
and the different alternatives to the problematic of drug
dependency, the fact that the rate of drug consumption in
the younger age groups is among the highest in Europe should
call for reflexion and solutions.
Curiosity naturally
flows to ask, how many users of illegal drugs in fact die
from the use of them? The answer is complicated in part because
cannabis finds itself lumped together with cocaine and heroin,
and nobody has ever been found dead from cannabis. The question
of deaths from cocaine is complicated by the factor of impurity.
Purchasers of illegal cocaine and heroin cannot know whether
they are consuming a drug that would qualify for regulated
consumption after clinical analysis.
More people die every
year as a result of the war against drugs than die from what
we call, generically, overdosing. These fatalities include,
perhaps most prominently, drug merchants who compete for commercial
territory, but include also people who are robbed and killed
by those desperate for money to buy the drug to which they
have become addicted.
The current war on
drugs is a major source of crime: it inflates the price of
drugs, inviting people to enter the trade; fosters even poisonous
drugs; and contributes significantly to the transmission of
HIV. These are problems caused, or made substantially worse,
by the war on drugs.
And added to the above
is the point of cost-effective. What are the relative costs,
on the one hand, of medical and psychological treatment for
drug abusers and, on the other, incarceration for drug offenses?
It's obvious that treatment is seven times more cost-effective.
By this is meant that one euro spent on the treatment of a
drug abuser reduces the probability of continued addiction
seven times more than one euro spent on incarceration. Yet
we are willing to build more and more jails in which to isolate
drug abusers even though at one-seventh the cost of building
and maintaining jail space and pursuing, detaining, and prosecuting
the drug abuser, we could subsidized commensurately effective
medical care and psychological treatment.
By legalizing the
use of certain drugs, the governments, not the merchants,
would control the price, distribution, and purity of addictive
substances - which they already do with prescription drugs.
This would take most of the profit out of drug trafficking,
and the profits that drive the crime. Drug abusers would be
treated - and if necessary maintained - under medical auspices.
And children would find it harder, not easier, to get their
hands on drugs.
But of course, it
all comes down to money. About 500 euros worth of cocaine
in a source country will bring in as much as 100,000 euros
on the streets of Bilbao. All the policemen, armies and prisons
in the world cannot impede a market with that kind of tax-free
profit margin. It is the illegality that permits the obscene
markup, enriching drug traffickers, distributors, dealers,
crooked policemen, lawyers, judges, politicians, bankers,
businessmen.
I leave it at this,
that the effects of the underworld drug economy and the undermining
of individual rights under the current war on drugs require
that the criminal prohibition against drug use and distribution
be ended. However, this measure only addresses part of the
problem. The data revealed in the latest government surveys
call on the responsibility of those implementing an unjust
and competitive social model which fosters drug dependency
and drop on society the enormous economic and human cost which
takes to face the consequences of their inmoral business.
June 30, 2001
Blanca Garza is
a political activist and free-lance writer who lives in Nabarra.
Translation by Gigi
Bidarte
References:
2001 Drug use survey by the Fundación Bartolomé
de Carranza for the government of Nabarra.
2001 Report by the Drug-dependency Observatory of the government
of Baskongadak.
2000 Report by the European Union's Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction.
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