The latest patterns of injecting drug use in a selection of European cities are presented today in a new analysis from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). The findings are from the agency’s ESCAPE project (1), which investigates the substances used by people who inject drugs (PWID) by chemically analysing the content of used syringes.
An estimated 500 000 people inject drugs in the EU, and they face elevated risks of overdose and infectious diseases. Reliable information on the substances being injected is essential to guide prevention strategies and the provision of harm reduction interventions.
In the latest ESCAPE data-collection round (2024), over 4 000 used syringes were collected and analysed through a network of harm-reduction services and laboratories across 23 cities in 16 countries from the EU and neighbouring countries. A total of 99 psychoactive substances were identified, highlighting the wide diversity of drugs being injected.
The latest analysis highlights several patterns of concern. A large proportion of detected substances were stimulants (including cocaine, amphetamines and synthetic cathinones), while highly potent synthetic opioids (including fentanyl derivatives and nitazenes) continue to be identified in some settings. At the same time, heroin remains a commonly detected drug in some cities, as well as opioid agonist medications and other medicines.Half of the syringes analysed contained residues of two or more drug categories, suggesting that polysubstance use — or the reuse of injecting equipment — is a frequent occurrence. The most common combination observed was a mix of a stimulant and an opioid.
The wide range of substances detected and the geographical variation reflect differences in local drug markets and patterns of use among sub-populations of PWID. While the findings are not necessarily representative of national situations, they provide valuable insights into local patterns that can inform targeted responses.
Enhanced interactive features and data access
The updated ESCAPE analysis includes an enhanced data explorer, providing access to results from 2017 to 2024. Users can explore the data through interactive visualisations, including a map-based interface, and can filter results by year, location and drug category.
The tool allows users to examine combinations of detected drug categories, explore trends over time and drill down into detailed results for each location. Dedicated city factsheets are now available for all participating locations, offering concise summaries of local findings, data collection settings and key patterns observed.
In line with the EUDA’s commitment to open data, the source datasets behind the visualisations can be downloaded for further analysis and use by researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders.
(1) European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise
