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Heroin hub — publications, news, data and more

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Overview

Heroin is a semisynthetic opioid obtained by acetylation of morphine, which occurs as a natural product in opium: the dried latex of certain poppy species. Illicit heroin may be smoked or solubilised with a weak acid and injected. On this page you can find links to data, scientific publications and resources available from the EMCDDA on the topic of heroin.

Publications

Publications by the EMCDDA on this topic

FAQ on drug overdose deaths in Europe

August 2022

These pages provide an update on drug-related deaths in Europe, presenting and analysing the latest data on and trends in drug-induced deaths in the European Union, Norway and Turkey. They draw on contributions from specialists from these countries, as well as on information provided by European…

European Web Survey on Drugs 2021: Georgia

July 2022

The European Web Survey on Drugs collected data during March to May 2021 from people who use drugs, are aged 18 or older and live in Georgia. In this period, the populations in many European and neighbouring countries were experiencing COVID-19-related lockdown or restrictions. Unless otherwise…

European Web Survey on Drugs 2021: Lebanon

July 2022

The European Web Survey on Drugs collected data during March and May 2021 from people who use drugs, are aged 18 or older, and live in 21 EU and 9 non-EU countries including Lebanon. In this period, the populations in many European and neighbouring countries were experiencing COVID-19-related…

European Drug Report 2022: Trends and Developments

June 2022

The Trends and Developments report presents the EMCDDA’s latest analysis of the drug situation in Europe. Focusing on illicit drug use, related harms and drug supply, the report contains a comprehensive set of national data across these themes and key harm-reduction interventions.

Penalties at a glance

April 2022

This tool lets you examine and compare the penalties or rehabilitative responses for the core offences of drug use, possession for personal use, and supply-related offences, across countries in Europe. It also allows you to see how the laws vary those penalties according to the type or quantity of…

Opioids: responses miniguide

October 2021

This miniguide is one of a larger set, which together comprise Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide 2021. The guide supports practitioners and policymakers in tackling the negative consequences of drug use. Particularly, the opioids miniguide provides an overview of the…

News

Read our most recent news on this topic

European drug market proves resilient to COVID-19 disruption (June 2021)
New multi-city syringe study uncovers latest patterns of injecting drug use (February 2021)
New report provides window onto EU drug market changes during COVID-19 (May 2020)
New report highlights wide-ranging impacts of EU drug markets on health and security (November 2019)
Drug overdoses can be prevented — new resources released (August 2019)
Latest update on drug-related deaths and mortality in Europe (July 2019)

Events

Recent and upcoming entries from our events calendar

Launch event: European Drug Report 2022 (14 Jun 2022)
Launch event: EU Drug Markets analyses (06 May 2022)
Report: An analysis of drugs in used syringes from sentinel European cities: results from the ESCAPE project, 2018 and 2019 (17 Feb 2021)
Launch of report: Balancing access to OST with preventing the diversion of opioid substitution medications in Europe: challenges and implications (11 Feb 2021)
Meeting: 'Take home naloxone to reduce fatalities: scaling up a participatory intervention across Europe' (14 Oct 2014, Lisbon)
First EMCDDA trendspotter meeting on recent shocks in the European heroin market (18 Oct 2011 to 19 Oct 2011, Lisbon, Portugal)

Data

Statistical Bulletin 2022 — drug use and prison (2022)
Statistical Bulletin 2022 — price, purity and potency (2022)
Statistical Bulletin 2022 — treatment demand (2022)
Statistical Bulletin 2021 — drug use and prison (2021)
Statistical Bulletin 2021 — price, purity and potency (2021)
Statistical Bulletin 2021 — treatment demand (2021)

Document library

Documents on this topic in our Document Library

Substances detected in used syringes of injecting drug users across 7 cities in Europe in 2017 and 2018 ( (ESCAPE) (2021)
COVID-19 and the drug supply chain: from production and trafficking to use (UNODC) (2020)
An assessment of the extent of Albanian(-speaking) organised crime groups involved in drug supply in the European Union: Characteristics, role and the level of influence (2019)
Shifting sands — Libya’s changing drug trafficking dynamics on the coastal and desert borders (2019)
Concurrent use of benzodiazepine by heroin users-what are the prevalence and the risks associated with this pattern of use? (2018)
Evaluation of Denmark's heroin prescription scheme 2010-12 (2018)