ISSN 1606-1683 ISSN TD -XD -12- 012- EN - C productionCannabis and markets Europe in About the EMCDDA The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is one of the European Union’s decentralised agencies. Established in 1993 and based in Lisbon, it is the central source of comprehensive information on drugs and drug addiction in Europe. The EMCDDA collects, analyses and disseminates factual, objective, reliable and comparable information on drugs and drug addiction. In doing so, it provides its audiences with an evidence-based picture of the drug phenomenon at European level. The EMCDDA’s Insights are volumes conveying the findings of study and research on topical issues in the drugs field. EMCDDA INSIGHTS EMCDDA Price (excluding VAT) in Luxembourg: EUR 15 INSIGHTS Cannabis production and markets in Europe 12 12 How to obtain EU publications Free publications: • via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu); • at the European Union’s representations or delegations. 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(351) 211 21 02 00 • Fax (351) 218 13 17 11 [email protected] • www.emcdda.europa.eu Contents Foreword 5 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction: The European cannabis market in context 11 Chapter 1: Botany and cultivation of cannabis 19 Chapter 2: Producing for the European markets 41 Chapter 3: Domestic supply in Europe 69 Chapter 4: Cannabis potency in Europe 139 Chapter 5: The demand for cannabis in Europe 157 Chapter 6: Responses to cannabis supply in Europe 185 Concluding remarks: what we know and what we don’t know about the market for Europe’s most commonly consumed illicit psychoactive substance 227 Appendix 239 References 243 3 Foreword Of all the illicit drugs, cannabis is the one with which we are collectively most familiar. This is perhaps not surprising. It has a long history, with the earliest evidence of cannabis use by humans stemming from the Neolithic period. The cannabis leaf itself has at times been a symbol of youthful rebellion, and no other illicit drug has become so closely associated in the public imagination with some of the social changes that Europe has seen in the last half-century. References to cannabis use appear regularly across popular culture, and it is also the substance over which public and political sentiment is most conflicted. Today, cannabis is the most widely consumed illicit drug in Europe and the world. Estimates suggest that at some time during each year at least 22 million Europeans will use this drug. This use is not without cost, as illustrated by the fact that those with cannabis-related problems now represent a sizeable proportion of those receiving help from drug services in many countries. In parts of Europe, cannabis consumption is both visible and difficult to ignore. Yet despite all this familiarity, and the self-evident fact that a highly developed industry must exist to support current consumption levels, the cannabis market in Europe remains to a large extent an obscure and unexplored topic. That we know so little about this market is surprising. The drug has been well studied, and we know in some detail about current patterns of use. It is a reality of modern life that wherever you live in Europe today, it is likely that not very far from where you are, cannabis is being bought and sold. You may or may not be aware of this fact, but in either case you are unlikely to be surprised by it. But what you are unlikely to be aware of is how the drug got there or what form it takes. In this detailed assessment, we, for the first time, bring together the available evidence in this area to provide the reader with a comprehensive analysis of what is known about the production of and market for cannabis across the European Union. This is a broad topic, and you will find it makes for some detailed, diverse and, I hope also, engrossing reading. To accomplish our task we must embark on a journey that spans not only the continents, as we look at how cannabis is grown, prepared and trafficked, but also topics as diverse as botany and plant genetics, the economics of cannabis distribution and the role of organised crime. This is the first time such a breadth of information has been brought together in one publication on this topic, and it provides an invaluable resource for understanding the dynamic market for this drug in Europe. The analysis is also timely, as some of the major developments that 5 Cannabis production and markets in Europe we chart are worrying ones. Europe has become not only a major consumer of this drug, but also an important producing area. The consequences of this in terms of crime and public health are now becoming more visible, and in both areas they raise the concern that the future costs associated with the European cannabis market may be greater than the historical ones. Wolfgang Götz Director, EMCDDA 6 Acknowledgements Editors Chloé Carpentier, Laurent Laniel, Paul Griffiths Authors Chloé Carpentier, Kobie Mulligan, Laurent Laniel, David Potter, Brendan Hughes, Liesbeth Vandam, Deborah Olszewski, Katerina Skarupova Other contributors Christian Ben Lakhdar, Laurence Dujourdi, Sheila Hardwick, Leslie King, Nacer Lalam, João Matias, André Noor, Roumen Sedefov, Toine Spapens, Adam Standring, Tim Surmont, Julian Vicente, David Weinberger, Trevor Williamson Luis Royuela managed the quantitative data. The volume was edited by Peter Fay (EMCDDA) and Helen MacDonald (PrePress Projects); Kasia Natoniewska assisted in its production. The EMCDDA thanks especially the Reitox national focal points, whose contributions have been invaluable to the analyses presented here, and Brice de Ruyver and Dirk Korf of the Scientific Committee for reviewing the manuscript. The photos in Chapter 1 are reproduced courtesy of David Potter, who retains copyright. 9 Introduction: The European cannabis market in context Although countries still differ in terms of prevalence of use, the overall picture is a broadly similar one in respect to the drug’s social development as the most commonly used illicit substance. A caveat here would be that modern patterns of drug use developed later in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. However, it is probably fair to say that the roots of today’s European ‘cannabis culture’ can be traced back to the 1960s, when the drug became associated with the emerging youth and counter-culture. From the 1960s up until the end of the 1980s, the European situation was somewhat bi-polar, with only a few countries reporting high rates of prevalence. But during the following decade and into the early 2000s, most European countries saw cannabis consumption rates increase. And, although inter-country differences still persisted, they became somewhat less pronounced. Recent data indicate an overall stable, or even slightly declining, situation, but levels of use still remain high by historical standards. Currently, around 9 million young Europeans (15–34 years of age) report using the drug in the previous month (EMCDDA, 2011a). This represents a sizeable market which, like the patterns of use it supports, has also evolved considerably over the last 30 years. In respect to both its size and sophistication, today’s European cannabis market sits in considerable contrast with the early days of the 1960s, when cannabis importation was mostly a pursuit of what might be described by today’s standards as amateurs and enthusiasts. Moreover, cannabis itself as a product has also undergone a profound change over this period; in this volume, we chart these changes to put the modern European cannabis market in its social and historical context. A starting point for this discussion is to note that perhaps one of the most important developments that have impacted on the modern cannabis market is simply its increase in scale. The European market for cannabis is extremely large, and supplying cannabis, whether it is at the importation, production or distribution level, requires organisation and logistics, human and other resources, and the need to generate and distribute income and profits.