Record Number of Drug Deaths in 2012
Last year, 160 people died as a result of using illegal drugs - a record for Estonia.
The annual death rate, Postimees reported, has increased at a more-or-less steady pace since 2001, when it was 38. The figure for last year is one of the highest rates in the European Union, eight times the average.
"There is no point in obfuscating. Despite the superb anti-narcotics strategy, we must admit that [the Estonian state] has been unsuccessful," said Risto Kasemäe, an official with the criminal investigations unit, referring to a decade-long plan for fighting drugs.
At the same time, police confiscated a record amount of drugs and drug money last year.
In recent years, experimenting with amphetamines has declined in popularity among the youth and marijuana consumption has stabilized.
The number of injecting drug users has also seen a modest decrease.
Police said it is hard to get reliable figures for the number of injecting drug users in Estonia but estimated that it is between 5,000 and 20,000.
