Overview
- The EU Drugs Agency’s June 9, 2026 annual report estimates at least 7,600 overdose deaths in 2024 and identifies opioids as the cause in about seven of ten fatal cases, with Germany recording roughly 1,912 deaths.
- The agency recorded 50 new psychoactive substances in the past year and now tracks about 1,050 compounds, raising the risk that consumers unknowingly ingest far stronger drugs.
- Organized crime groups are increasingly recruiting youths from socially disadvantaged areas for street dealing and violent roles, with social media used to find and direct recruits and criminal leaders supplying money, weapons and logistics.
- Traffickers are changing routes and methods in response to tighter checks at big ports by using smaller harbours, transfers at sea, drones, fast boats and semi‑submersible craft to move drugs from South America and Africa into Europe.
- Authorities have seized e‑cigarettes and adulterated cannabis products containing synthetic cannabinoids, prompting EU officials to call for stepped‑up cross‑border monitoring, tougher enforcement and faster sharing of forensic data.