While official statistics point to an explosion in drug use among women and show that almost 1 in 5 young people have tried illegal substances, the reality on the ground could be much darker. Criminologist Vlad Zaha warns, in an analysis for “Adevărul”, that the government figures are seriously underestimated due to the fear of criminal cases and a rigid methodology, the real consumption of cannabis being estimated at a value three times higher In a context where the cocaine market is growing artificially, and the current repressive policies are visibly failing, the specialist proposes a radical change of paradigm: decriminalizing consumption and treating addiction as a public health problem, not prison.
The government submitted to analysis, in Thursday’s meeting, an extensive report on the situation of drugs in Romania, a document drawn up by the government agency specialized in addictions. The study compares the data collected in 2019 with those of 2024 and reveals an increase in consumption at the level of the general population, but with important nuances: among men, especially young ones, there is a decrease, while among women consumption has increased in all the analyzed categories.
The 2024 survey included 7,200 respondents, of which 5,700 formed the nationally representative sample, aged between 15 and 64, and 1,500 people constituted an over-sample from Bucharest, aged between 15 and 34. Among the young population, the percentages are higher than the national average: 18.5% of them declared that they had used an illegal drug at least once in their life, 9.1% in the last year, and 6.2% in the last month.
Compared to the 2019 survey, in this age group there is a decrease of almost two percentage points for recent consumption and of 0.8 percentage points for current consumption.
In an interview for “Adevărul”, criminologist Vlad Zaha, however, draws attention to the way in which these figures should be interpreted, stressing that they do not fully reflect reality.
“As a general rule, any measurement of this type, from official or institutional surveys, must be interpreted as an underestimation of reality, which means that this survey also most likely does not fully capture the real consumption, but underestimates it, and in reality the consumption is certainly higher than that reflected in the data. This is explained by the way the survey is conducted, since all the several thousand people interviewed were interviewed face to face, and in a country like In Romania, where the state punishes possession for personal consumption and any operations with substances extremely severely, it is natural for people to be reluctant to admit or report consumption, especially in a direct interview”explains Vlad Zaha.
“Official figures mislead the authorities”
To support the statement regarding the underestimation of the phenomenon, the specialist invokes studies carried out by independent researchers.
“To have a term of comparison, there are independent studies from recent years, such as the one carried out by Mihai Copăceanu on over 10,000 young Romanians, which show that, only for cannabis and only for the 16-25 age group, the prevalence of consumption is almost 50%, i.e. almost three times higher than what the official report indicates, which proves that the official figures are misleading to the authorities”declared Vlad Zaha.
The gender gap recorded in the report – decrease for men and increase for women – can be explained, according to the criminologist, by the disproportionate exposure of men to the judicial system.
“In terms of the decline in legal substance use in men and the increase in women, this difference can be explained by the fact that men are generally more targeted by police action, criminal records and convictions, and the number of convictions has increased more than six-fold in the last six years, the majority being for possession for personal consumption, suggesting that boys are more exposed to the justice system than girls.”the criminologist points out.
Heroin and opioids: fluctuating evolution, varying ages of onset
Regarding the consumption of opioids, especially heroin administered by injection, it continues to be reported especially among consumers in Bucharest. Nationally, the lifetime prevalence of heroin use is 0.5% among the general population and 0.7% among youth. The evolution of lifetime opioid use shows a relative stagnation between 2003 and 2013, followed by successive increases – by 75% in 2016 and by 29% in 2019 – and then by a drastic reduction of 55% in 2024 compared to 2019.
Recent heroin use in the general population is 0.3%. The minimum age declared at onset was 10 years.
About these data, Vlad Zaha mentions: “In the case of heroin, it is important to note that the average age of onset of consumption for all substances is over 20 years, and cases of consumption at extremely young ages, such as 8, 9 or 10 years, are isolated accidents and are not representative of the general phenomenon in Romania.”
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Cocaine use is increasing, because the market is “invaded” by synthetic products
Another chapter of the report highlights the increase in the use of cocaine, both powder and crack, both among the general population and among young people, for all categories of use compared to 2019.
In the general population, the percentage who had tried the drug at least once increased by 0.5 percentage points, from 1.6% to 2.1%. A more pronounced increase in recent consumption is recorded in the case of young people, from 0.7% to 1.3%.
The criminologist offers a unique perspective on this development: “Fluctuations in the use of more expensive substances such as cocaine can be explained by a lack of real knowledge of what people are using, as the lack of substance testing services means that many are actually using a mix of amphetamines, cathinones and other cheaper synthetics sold as cocaine, indicating that the market is flooded with synthetic variants.”
The “legal” phenomenon is declining, at least apparently
The new psychoactive substances, which appeared on the Romanian market in 2009 and which in 2019 occupied the first place in the ranking of the most consumed illegal drugs, registered a significant decrease in all consumption categories.
The largest reductions occurred in men: from 8.6% to 4.7% for lifetime use, from 4.1% to 1.3% for past-year use, and from 3.4% to 0.5% for past-month use. In women, the reduction is smaller for lifetime use but faster for recent and current use – from 2.0% to 0.7% and from 1.6% to 0.5%, respectively.
Among youth, the prevalence of lifetime use decreased from 10.3% to 6.5%, recent use from 5.1% to 1.7%, and current use from 4.1% to 0.8%.
This apparent decrease, however, has an explanation related to the legal framework, as Vlad Zaha points out.
“The apparent decrease in the consumption of new psychoactive substances is due to the fact that they are periodically included in the tables of Law 143/2000 and are no longer considered “new”, but become high-risk or high-risk drugs, so that people can no longer properly define them as new psychoactive substances”specified the criminologist.
The complete picture of drug use in Romania, characterized by ineffective policies and alternative solutions
In his analysis, Vlad Zaha draws attention to the consequences of the current anti-drug policy, stressing that severe prohibitions have the opposite effects to those expected.
“The zero-tolerance policy towards possession for personal use has the side effect that the state does not really know the extent of the phenomenon, who uses, how and what substances, only certain trends can be analyzed, and even these indicate a general increase in the prevalence of use throughout life, although measurements of use in the last month or last year are even less relevant, because people are all the more reluctant to admit it in face-to-face interviews”reported Vlad Zaha.
The son of the philosopher Andrei Pleșu was sent to court for drug trafficking and consumption. “It represented the main source of supply for the dealer in Iasi”
He proposes a paradigm shift, suggesting that the solution lies not in intensifying punitive measures, but in adopting more effective assessment tools.
“A more effective way to assess the spread of consumption would be through anonymous surveys, but especially by changing the legislation that punishes possession for own consumption, because if we want to know the reality, we should stop penalizing consumers, this being the most direct and honest solution”the criminologist also specified.
Vlad Zaha draws strong conclusions regarding the ineffectiveness of the current model that punishes users, without taking into account the fact that this does not decrease consumption or lead to fewer drug victims.
“In conclusion, this report should convey that Romania needs a radical change of approach, given that there are 30,000 active criminal cases at DIICOT, most of them for consumers, that almost two consumers per day are sentenced to prison, while consumption continues to increase, and the number of hospitalizations is increasing, which proves that the current policy is not working.
The solution would be to decriminalize consumers, reduce the risks, eliminate the involvement of law enforcement in the case of people who consume substances and direct efforts to combat large-scale trafficking, while for consumers a support system should be created based on education, medical services, treatment and real prevention, elements that are now missing and are ineffectively replaced by police intervention”concludes the criminologist.
