Analytics, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation

Scientist Katri Abel-Ollo of the Estonian Drug Monitoring Center said new EU-wide research highlighted starkly the extent of the problem in the Baltic nation of 1.3 million, reports LETA/AFP.

"The new report is based on 2009 data and notes that while there are between one and five injecting drug addicts per 1,000 people in the EU on average, in Estonia the number is 15," Abel-Ollo told AFP.

In contrast with most EU states, where 95% of addicts who seek treatment are heroin-users, a full 75% of those in Estonia favor the narcotic fentanyl or its derivatives.

"It is hundreds of times more powerful than heroin, causing very strong mental and physical addiction very rapidly," Abel-Ollo added.

Fentanyl is sometimes sold as heroin, raising the risk of an overdose.

"In 2009, 146 deaths per million people in Estonia aged 15-64 were caused by a drug overdose," Abel-Ollo said. Across Europe, the annual average toll was around 21 per million.

Estonia is emerging from one of Europe's deepest economic crises, which hit hardest in 2009, but there was no data showing if that influenced addiction data.

Drug traffickers are drawn by Estonia's location on the eastern rim of the EU between Finland and Latvia – both of which are in the bloc – and Russia.

Estonian gangs are known to transport hashish and amphetamines from the Netherlands to Estonia, and on to Scandinavia and Russia, noted Abel-Ollo.

In addition, cocaine is shipped in from South America and then on to the rest of Europe. "It's much more risk-free than transporting it directly from South America to bigger European states," she said.