Hashish was the drug most utilized in Cyprus through the restrictions towards the unfold of COVID-19 whereas there was a drop in the usage of ecstasy in response to the most recent European Net Survey on Medicine introduced on Thursday by the EU medication company (EMCDDA).
The survey discovered that hashish and ecstasy use are the drug-consumption patterns most impacted by COVID-19 restrictions because it emerged that whereas natural hashish use elevated, use of ‘celebration drug’ MDMA/ecstasy declined.
Based on a press launch by the Cyprus Nationwide Addictions Authority (NAAC) that was among the many round 100 organisations that participated within the survey, the information for Cyprus are much like the European ones, as hashish was probably the most used substance, with 97% of Cypriot members reporting that that they had used it within the earlier 12 months.
As well as, a big share of Cypriots (40%) reported utilizing extra hashish through the restrictive measures whereas 40% reported utilizing much less ecstasy. In complete 606 Cypriots participated within the survey. Eight out of ten had been males and the remaining had been girls, most of them within the 18-35 age group.
Near 50,000 adults (48,469) responded to the survey that ran between March and April 2021 in 30 international locations (21 EU together with Cyprus and 9 non-EU) when many populations had been beneath COVID-19-related lockdowns. Focused at folks aged 18 and over who’ve used medication, it goals to enhance understanding of patterns of drug use in Europe and assist form future drug insurance policies and interventions.
“I’m assured that this ‘European Analysis Alliance’ will improve our data of substance use patterns and consumption ranges in Europe and Cyprus, whereas it clearly demonstrates that on-line analysis strategies have a lot to supply, particularly in occasions of disaster and the imposition of restrictive measures, the place no different methodologies might be utilized, ” mentioned Dr. Christos Mina, President of the Cyprus Nationwide Addictions Authority. The evaluation of the true wants of society is achieved by analysis and is a prerequisite for the event of scientifically based mostly insurance policies and interventions, he added.