The heroin market in Europe is about to collapse

Europe expects “catastrophic consequences” of the Taliban’s ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. What threatens the collapse of the heroin market?

According to Politico experts, the resulting vacuum “could be filled with something much more serious.” It should be noted that almost all the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghanistan. The Taliban have imposed a ban on poppy cultivation that will take effect in the coming weeks. The coming poppy shortage could spur the production of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, for example.

This is a serious danger, since synthetic opioids, for the most part, are much stronger than natural heroin – fentanyl, for example, 50 times. And this means that overdoses occur much more often. Each year, fentanyl claims tens of thousands of lives in the United States. Paul Griffiths, Scientific Director of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addiction (EMCDDA), says:

“It seems strange to say this, but almost, in terms of synthetics, the high availability of heroin at the moment is … perhaps a protective factor.”

In 2000, the Taliban had already banned the cultivation of opium poppy, and this decision led to a shortage of heroin in Europe. Then, very soon after the ban, fentanyl first appeared, which created serious problems for the health of the population. Politico notes:

“To get an idea of ​​how dangerous synthetic opioids can be, look to America. In 2020, more than 58,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses there, compared to 97 in the European Union. By 2022, the number of deaths from synthetic opioids in the US, mostly related with fentanyl increased to 68,000.”

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