Concern at growing number of domestic cannabis factories

The EU drugs agency has expressed concern at the massive rise in the number of domestic cannabis factories across the continent, including Ireland.

Experts are worried at the increased health risk to users, particularly young people, from more potent herbal cannabis and at the sudden surge in violence associated with the trade.

While surveys show that overall consumption levels of cannabis have stabilised across Europe, and fallen here, authorities are concerned that this progress may be reversed by the sharp rise in the supply of domestically produced herbal cannabis.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said treatment figures for cannabis were growing across Europe.

The Lisbon-based agency is concerned at the number of people — 3m in the EU — who are using cannabis on a daily basis.

Figures compiled by the Health Research Board, which supplies Irish data to the agency, show that the number of cannabis plant factories/growhouses seized have jumped from 46 in 2006, to 224 in 2009 and to 582 in 2011.

Garda figures show that €32m worth of cannabis herb and cannabis plants were seized up to May this year, more than the whole of 2011.

EU agency scientist, Frank Zobel, said this “greening of Europe” was expected to continue.

Paul Griffiths, scientific director of the agency, said domestic factories were a “very lucrative market for gangs”. He said they were “cost effective” for gangs and offered less security risk as they don’t have to move drugs across borders.

However, he said the trade was “increasingly becoming associated with violent crime” between rival gangs, previously unheard of in the cannabis supply market.

Across Europe, including Ireland, Vietnamese gangs dominate cannabis factories, involving the use of poor Vietnamese people, who are trafficked across the world, used as virtual slaves and often do not even know where they are.

Agency director, Wolfgang Gotz, said he was concerned the shift to herbal cannabis was “exposing users to more potent forms” of the drug.

Irish drug agencies have expressed concern at the increased use of strong herbal cannabis among young people. The potency of herbal cannabis seized in Ireland has risen from 8.6% in 2000 to 17%-20%.

The report also warns MDMA, or ecstasy, is “making a comeback” — a trend seen by gardaí and drug workers in Ireland. The report said the price of ecstasy has dropped, while the purity has increased.

Both the EU agency and the Health Research Board report falling cocaine usage. It said that five high-prevalence countries for cocaine use, which includes Ireland, had reported a drop in recent usage.

The agencies report similar trends in relation to heroin, but with reports that addicts are using alternative drugs instead, including benzodiazepines (tranquillisers) in Ireland.

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