Cocaine use has risen across Europe, study shows

FILE PHOTO: Zollfahndungsamt Hamburg shows a detail of cocaine, found in over 1,700 tins of wall filler, after German authorities seized more than 16 tonnes of cocaine in the northern port city of Hamburg, Germany, February 24, 2020, in Europe's largest cocaine haul to date. REUTERS/Cathrin Mueller/File Photo

LISBON (Reuters) - Cocaine use has increased across Europe, an EU-wide wastewater study showed on Wednesday, with the highest levels of residues found in Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

The study, the largest to date by the Lisbon-based European drugs monitoring agency EMCDDA, analysed daily wastewater in the catchment areas of treatment plants serving some 54 million people in 104 European cities.