Infographic: Amphetamine samples tested by drug checking services between January and June 2019
Description
From the European Drug Report 2020: Trends and Developments. Exract (p. 30)
Data on the contents of amphetamines sold in Europe are also available from drug checking services. Their results indicated that samples presented as amphetamine had on average the lowest purity level and were more likely to contain pharmacologically active adulterants, compared with the other stimulant drugs tested. In the period January-June 2019 a total of 652 samples presented as amphetamine were analysed by 11 European drug checking services. Three quarters (75 %) of these contained amphetamine and one or more pharmacologically active substance, whereas 20 % contained amphetamine as the sole pharmacologically active substance. The average purity of amphetamine samples submitted for testing in 2019 was 37 %. The majority (56 %) of the samples presented as amphetamine were obtained through direct contact with a known supplier. Obtaining the drug through an acquaintance (12 %) was the next most common means of acquisition. Methamphetamine accounted for only 1 % of all samples submitted to drug checking services during the first half of 2019. Fifty-four samples presented as methamphetamine were submitted for testing, 48 of them to Austrian and Spanish drug checking services
