The Canary Islands have seen a worrying rise in cocaine use among women, even though consumption among men has dropped. Reports from organisations working with people struggling with addiction attribute this trend to the growing ease of access to the drug.
According to data from Proyecto Hombre, a leading organisation in addiction treatment, cocaine has become the primary substance of concern in the Canary Islands, especially among those over the age of 33.
The organisation’s latest report highlighted that cocaine use has overtaken alcohol addiction among women on the islands, while heroin addiction remains more prevalent among men.
The 2024 European Drug Report sheds light on the broader context of this issue. Cocaine is now the second most commonly used illegal drug in Europe, after cannabis. The report indicates that the availability of cocaine has been steadily increasing, leading to heightened health and social costs across the continent.
In 2022, EU countries seized a record 323 tons of cocaine, marking the sixth consecutive year of rising confiscations. Spain, alongside Belgium and the Netherlands, continues to play a critical role as a primary entry point for cocaine into Europe.
Notably, in 2023, Spanish authorities made their largest single seizure of 9.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador, intercepted at the port of Algeciras.
In the Canary Islands, Proyecto Hombre's 2022 statistics revealed that cocaine use accounted for 61.5% of male and 58.3% of female cases treated, well above the national average of 38.3%. The most recent data shows a reversal in trends, with a slight increase in the percentage of women seeking treatment (68.6%) compared to men (59.3%).
The cocaine available on the streets is often heavily mixed with other substances, with the actual drug content in a gram of cocaine ranging from just 10% to 30%. The remainder consists of various substances used to cut the drug, thereby maximising profits for dealers. These adulterants include pharmaceuticals, cleaning chemicals, and even laxatives, many of which pose significant health risks.
One particularly dangerous adulterant is levamisole, a veterinary antiparasitic agent that can cause severe side effects in humans. Other substances commonly found in cocaine include phenacetin, a painkiller banned in Europe since 1984 due to its severe side effects, and local anaesthetics like procaine, tetracaine, benzocaine, and lidocaine, which are used to mimic the numbing effects of high-purity cocaine.
Additionally, strychnine, a potent pesticide, is sometimes added, which in high doses can overstimulate the central nervous system, leading to agitation, respiratory distress, dark urine, convulsions, and potentially fatal respiratory failure or brain death.
The increasing prevalence of adulterated cocaine highlights the severe risks faced by users, particularly as the drug becomes more accessible in the Canary Islands. This situation underlines the urgent need for enhanced public health intervention and drug enforcement measures to address the situation.
