When most people think of getting stoned in Europe, their minds immediately wander to the Netherlands and the cannabis-friendly coffee shops lining Amsterdam’s city streets. And if you’re looking for easy access cannabis tourism, you’re probably right, but if you’re looking to find some real, authentic European stoners, a new study says you might be better off taking a trip to Paris or Prague.
According to a new report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the highest concentration of cannabis users in Europe come from France and the Czech Republic, with 11% of respondents in each country admitting to marijuana use in the past year.
In the Czech Republic, those numbers are higher than years past, adding to a trend that has seen all types of European drug use increase over the last decade, including a spike in opiate use, reminiscent of the similar, but much worse problem in the U.S.
“Long-term analysis indicates that the estimated total number of problem drug users has increased by more than 50 % over the last 10 years, with slight increases noted for all types of drugs, including injecting drug use.” The report explains.
Sticking with cannabis, though, the EMCDDA data seems to back up the long-standing narrative that Amsterdam’s cannabis industry exists strictly for tourists, with only 8% of adults in the Netherlands consuming the legal weed in the past year, fewer than both France, the Czech Republic, Italy and Spain – all of which have some form of widespread prohibition.
If you’re planning a trip across the pond and looking to link up with some Euro stoners, you can check out the entire interactive map of European cannabis use at the EMCDDA website and see where you’re most, or least – we’re looking at you, Malta – likely to run into some friendly potheads abroad.
