Enlargement 2005 : cannabis in the new EU member states

Abstract

The 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU) covered 10 countries of very different size, population and culture, spreading from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Considering existing commonalities and differences, three broad groups may be distinguished: the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania); the Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia) and the Mediterranean islands (Cyprus and Malta). The number of their inhabitants ranges from just over 400 000 in Malta to over 38 million in Poland. Altogether, close to 80 million people live in the new members of the EU, sometimes referred to as the EU-10. Significant differences exist in economic development and wealth among the EU-10. Gross national product (GNP) per capita adjusted for purchasing power varies from well below EUR 8 000 in the Baltic states to over EUR 15 000 in Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia. The new EU Member States are also very different in terms of political history. For about a half of the last century the Baltic states were part of the Soviet Union, and Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as Hungary, belonged to the bloc of socialist countries bound militarily and economically to the Soviet Union. Slovenia was part of socialist Yugoslavia, while Cyprus and Malta experienced market economies and more pluralistic political systems after rejecting the colonial power of the United Kingdom about 50 years ago. Eight out of 10 new EU members have been affected, then, by root-and-branch social change in the last 20 years.

Introduction of multi-party political systems and reinforcement of the market economy have resulted in more personal freedom and economic growth in recent years. On the other hand, a sense of everyday security has deteriorated. According to the participants of the project, security deteriorated the most, followed by housing security. Cannabis has been an illicit drug of choice for relatively large segments of young people in Western Europe. After the fall of the Iron Curtain cannabis use has rapidly increased in prevalence in Central and Eastern Europe as well, both in terms of physical presence and as a symbol of affiliation to the Western youth cultures.

This chapter is co-authored by individuals from 10 countries. In the first stage of its preparation, representatives of each country produced a detailed inventory of available cannabis data in standardised format. The inventories served as background material that was used extensively during a two-day workshop with the aim to write a first draft of the chapter. The participants, divided into three groups which focused respectively on epidemiology, social perception and social responses, outlined three sections of the chapter which were then elaborated by three individuals: Airi-Alina Allaste (social perception), Zsolt Demetrovics (social response) and Danica Klempova (epidemiology). Finally, the chapter was combined and edited by Jacek Moskalewicz and Janusz Sierosławski. Support and encouragement was offered by Linda Montanari and Sharon Rödner Sznitman.