Antwerp cocaine capital of Europe
According to research published this week, the Flemish port city of Antwerp has the highest levels of cocaine use in Europe. Samples were taken from waste water in 21 European cities. These samples were tested for traces of the class A drug cocaine. The samples taken from Antwerp were found to have higher concentrations of cocaine than those taken from the other twenty cities surveyed.
Cities with lower levels of cocaine found in waste water include London, Paris and Amsterdam.
However, Alexander Van Nuijs of Antwerp University’s toxicology department says that the figures are only provisional.
Mr Van Nuijs added that Antwerp’s role as Europe’s second biggest port could account for the relatively high levels of cocaine found in the water.
The samples from Antwerp were taken from the Zuid water plant that collects and cleans up waste water from Hoboken, Borgerhout and Antwerp city centre.
The levels of cocaine found in Antwerp’s waste water point to a daily consumption of ten lines of cocaine par 1,000 population.