Falling use of traditional drugs is offset by relentless supply of new ones.

The internet has created new routes for supply and use, with the market now pivoting less round “plant based substances shopping over long distances to consumer markets in Europe”.

Published alongside EMCDDA’s 2013 drug trends survey, the report claims that there have been positive developments in the use of more established drugs, with fewer new users of heroin, less injecting of drugs, and declining use if cannabis and cocaine across Europe. But any optimism must be tempered by concerns that youth unemployment and cuts in drug treatment services could lead to a re-emergence of old problems.

The UK still has the greatest levels of cocaine consumption in Europe, and the largest number of heroin users in substitution treatment, 177,093 at the last count.