Figure DLO-3. Indexed trends in reports for drug law offences by type of drug in the EU Member States 2002–07

Notes:

1. The trends represent the available information on the national number of reports for drug law offences (criminal and non-criminal) reported by all law enforcement agencies in the EU Member States; all series are indexed to a base of 100 in 2002 and weighted by country population sizes to form an overall EU trend; the figures between brackets refer to the total number of offences as reported in 2002 (before weighting).

2. The general term 'reports for drug law offences' is used, since definitions and study units differ widely between countries. For definitions of the term 'reports for drug law offences', please refer to Drug law offences - methods and definitions.

3. Countries that in 2007 carried out changes in the information system likely to affect comparability across time ((Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Slovakia, and United Kingdom) as well as countries with missing data for two or more consecutive years are not included in the trend calculations: the overall trend is based on 21 countries (85 % of the EU population 15-64), the trend for both heroin and cocaine is based on 15 countries (65 % of the EU population 15-64), cannabis on 16 (68 % of the EU population 15-64), and amphetamine on 11 (60 % of the EU population 15-64).

4. Additionally, where 2007 data are missing (1 case for all reports, 3 cases for cannabis, heroin, cocaine, 2 cases for amphetamine and ecstasy) 2006 data are used, for missing 2002 data (1 cases for cannabis, heroin, cocaine, amphetamine and ecstasy) 2003 data are used, and for other missing data (1 case for ecstasy) data have been interpolated from adjacent years.

5. Cyprus and Portugal were not included in the trend calculation for amphetamine, nor Luxembourg in the trend calculation for both amphetamine and ecstasy, due to low numbers in cases reported.

Related links:

See also ‘General notes for interpreting data’ on the Explanatory notes and help page.

Sources:

Reitox national focal points and, for population data Eurostat.