Close to 400,000 drug users in Kosovo, users are 16-45 years old

According to him, the age of those who are starting to use drugs is 16. Blakaj said that in Kosovo until 2013 the main drugs used were heroin and from 2018 cocaine has begun to be used, where, according to him, the last two years are rapidly increasing use.

Centre Director “Labyrinth”, said that registered on the database of this centre figures 2850 people, who are drug users, who in their term they are called problem drug users.

The “are not just statistics, we do both the analytical part and the field work, and we see how the problem of drugs is going on in Kosovo. There are 2 850 and something on our database, but they're not all on the database. The basic date is binding that if all those we call drug users are required for medical treatment, then it's imperative, for others it's not mandatory when there's only counseling or when they have other demands, but don't require medical services. We consider that the number of problem users has begun to grow, problematic users are called by definition of all those who are dependent on drugs have a stable life, have problems in the family, are at odds with the law. All others are called drug users. So we consider that somewhere close to 400,000 drug users are in Kosovo, and the number of problem users is approaching 10,000, about 8 thousand and a little”, he said.

Until 2013, the main drug has been heroin, which is extremely dangerous, from both the creation of dependence and the health of the person and public health. The year 2018 has begun to change reports, or drug reactions, cocaine has begun. Cocaine in the past year has marked growth, over the years, since 2018 has slightly increased, the last two years the speed of cocaine use is increasing. The age of cocaine made us worried because compared to 2019, the age of those who came to seek help was 35-45 years old, while last year has dropped by about 27 years of age that came to show up. The beginning of all drugs, since the beginning of Labyrinth's work, has dropped by the age of 16 when they first used drugs. Most of them expropriate start with muruana”, he said.

Blakaj said they have been worried about the arrest of Besnik Mujec, former Vetvendosje Movement Minister in Pristina who has been arrested Tuesday in Albania along with four others under suspicion of narcotics trafficking.

According to him, concern from this case is the large quantity of ecstasy that has been seized by Albanian police. Although it says it is not highly problematic drugs and is used by youth in various organizations, discotheque festivals, and so on.

The other “Dugs are used in Kosovo, but now we don't see any major problems, but of course in the future, even changes in the trend of drug use can happen. If we talk in this case about the drugs of clubs that included ecstasy, drugs that became a stir that was found in Albania a large amount that has disturbed us. We have been disturbed by the large amount, not who did the trafficking, but we have been disturbed by the large amount that has gone out of Kosovo. We understand that if that amount has been brought to Kosovo, there has been an easier use or approach to use this drug”.

“ecstasy is not some highly problematic drug, so it is used by young people to age 30 and is a drug of clubs used in various organizations, especially at festivals. Ecstasy has not been the case that someone is dependent solely on ecstasy, risk of ecstasy are when mixed up or used along with other drugs, then risks are immediate death or on dose”, he said.