Drug trafficking

Drug trafficking remains a major threat to public safety and governance across Europe. The trade in cannabis, cocaine, heroin, synthetic drugs, and new psychoactive substances (NPS) generates vast criminal profits, driving violence, corruption, and institutional instability. In particular, the use of intimidation and violence to control drug markets, while exploiting minors and vulnerable youth, including through online platforms, deepens insecurity in communities and reinforces cycles of crime.  
Unprecedented cocaine production, diversified trafficking routes and intensified competition between criminal networks are driving increased criminal violence. Cannabis markets continue to expand, with high supply, rising potency and blurred legal–illegal boundaries. Heroin supply uncertainty has reinforced the EU’s role as a production hub for synthetic drugs and NPS. As a result, increasingly potent opioids are spreading across Europe, contributing to higher poisoning and overdose deaths. The EU now acts both as a main entry point for cocaine and a global production centre for synthetic drugs, while trafficking routes diversify, encrypted online platforms facilitate distribution and synthetic drug manufacturing generates growing environmental harm.