Cannabis is Europe’s most commonly used illicit drug, with an estimated 22.6 million last year users. National surveys of cannabis use would suggest that overall, around 8 % of European adults (22.6 million aged 15 to 64) are estimated to have used cannabis in the last year. However, both the level of use and trends in use reported in recent national data appear heterogeneous.
In wastewater, cannabis use is estimated by measuring its main metabolite, THC-COOH, which is the only suitable biomarker found so far. Although it is excreted in a low percentage and more research is still needed (Causanilles et al., 2017a), it is commonly used to report on cannabis use in the literature (Zucatto et al., 2016; Bijlsma et al., 2020).
The THC-COOH loads observed in wastewater indicate that cannabis use was highest in western and southern European cities, in particular in cities in Czechia, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia. In 2023, there were diverging trends with 20 cities out of 51 reporting an increase in THC-COOH loads in wastewater samples, and 15 a decrease.
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