Belgium on drugs

Last week, Belgium had a bit of a drug problem. First, one tonne of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €50 million, was fished out of the North Sea off the coast of Ostend. A few days later, a shopper in Verviers, Wallonia got a special surprise when he or she found three grams of cocaine inside the shell of a Kinder Surprise chocolate egg.

Belgium, like all countries, struggles to control the use and distribution of illegal drugs. Nevertheless, despite all efforts, Belgium has a fairly active black market for contraband substances, aided largely by Antwerp’s port, the second largest in Europe, where only 2% of the eight million container ships that enter it are screened for drugs.

As a result, a study last May analysing the sewage water of 42 European cities for traces of drug use found that Antwerp’s waste water was among the highest in Europe for levels of cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis and ecstasy use. The same study also revealed that levels of cocaine and ecstasy in sewage rise sharply at the weekends.

So who are these people polluting Antwerp’s sewage and how widespread is the use? Well, it depends on the drug. Let’s break it down.

Cocaine
Belgians like their cocaine, says the 2014 Global Drug Survey. Nearly 20% of respondents admitted to having used the drug in the last year and gave it its highest rating among any country, 5.5 out of 10. And for a country always looking for a good price-quality ratio, the survey revealed that cocaine in Belgium typically costs €50 per gram, which is half the price of the upper end of the European average.

Cocaine’s popularity and relative affordability in Belgium is in large part due to the country's location at the very heart of the cocaine trade in Europe. Last June, The Guardian called Antwerp “Europe’s cocaine capital”, estimating that some 25% of cocaine from South America enters Europe through Antwerp’s busy port.

Cannabis
In the Global Drug Survey, over 40% of participants said they used cannabis in the last year. Culturally, marijuana is highly tolerated in Belgian society. It is illegal to possess any cannabis product for personal use, but in 2005 a law was passed that decriminalised quantities under three grams. So if you are caught with this amount, and if you are not causing public disorder, then you will not be criminally charged and the drug will not be confiscated. Also, under the same law you are allowed to possess one female cannabis plant (only the females produced THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gets you high).

MDMA (Ecstasy)
In the same 2014 survey, 23% of participants had used MDMA (pictured), commonly called ecstasy. Like cocaine, MDMA often enters the country from Antwerp’s port and spreads through Europe. This influx of the drug keeps prices lower in Belgium than in many other countries.

However, Belgium doesn’t only distribute ecstasy, it also produces it. Back in 2013, in one of Europe’s largest ever drug busts, one tonne of MDMA was seized in raids across Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland, focused largely on an ecstasy production plant in Chimay. The total street value of the seized drugs was €1.3 billion.

Heroin
As in many countries, heroin and other opiates are not as widespread in Belgium as typical “party drugs” like MDMA and cocaine. A little more than 8% of those surveyed admitted to using heroin in the last 12 months, compared to the some 20% who used coke or ecstasy. Still, this percentage is nearly twice as high as the number of heroin users in The Netherlands.

Again, while heroin usage isn’t particularly high, Belgium, together with The Netherlands, is an important player in the distribution of the drug throughout Europe. Like with cocaine, Antwerp’s port is a high traffic area for smugglers, often bringing heroin up from Africa.

Alcohol
Of course, by far the most prevalent drug used in Belgium is the very legal alcohol. As a country know for its beer, it’s not surprising to learn that over 95% of the population reports having used alcohol in the last 12 months.

What is perhaps more surprising is that the Global Drug Survey found Belgium to have the second highest rate of alcohol dependency, after Ireland. About 7.5% of the Belgian population are alcohol dependent, compared with the 3 to 5% dependency across all countries tested.

But we don’t let it affect our work. We’re also more likely than average to show up to work with a hangover, which is something to be praised, I suppose.