Europe’s top official monitoring illegal drugs has a parting message near the end of his tenure: the relentless rise in the trafficking of cocaine and other stimulants is producing more violence than ever before in the heart of the world’s safest societies.
Alexis Goosdeel, the Belgian clinician who has run the European Union Drugs Agency since Jan. 2016, has watched it unfold across the continent and spill into his home country. The bulk of drug seizures has shifted from Europe's southern flank to its northern ports and, with Antwerp now a leading entry point for cocaine and crack, spreading gang violence has led to shootouts, even near the seat of Europe’s government.
It's emblematic of the risk the continent at large faces, he told The Associated Press via video conference from Lisbon, Portugal, where his agency is based.
“For people living in Brussels, that’s the first time in the history of the country ... that you have episodes with weapons, with guns, in the center of Brussels,” Goosdeel said. “And this happens 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) from the building of the European Parliament, in a city that was felt and perceived by people to be quite safe.”
He noted the globalization of drug gangs, with groups from the western Balkans arrested in Andean nations in South America. He also pointed to the new phenomena of gangs using social media to recruit at-risk youths, some of whom are recent arrivals to Europe as undocumented migrants.
“We don’t understand yet what are the root causes of this change of behavior among young teenagers or adolescents who embarked on ultra-violent behavior without having really a past of delinquency,” he said. “And some of them do not hesitate to take pictures or to make a movie of what they are doing and to share it on some social media.”
The European Union Drugs Agency’s annual report released on Thursday found that in 2023 cocaine seizures in Europe hit a record for a seventh straight year, with 419 tonnes (462 tons) of cocaine confiscated by officials. Belgium led the way with 123 tonnes, followed by Spain (118 tonnes) and the Netherlands (59 tonnes), as the three countries with major ports accounted for 72% of the total amount grabbed by agents.
The report, which covers the EU as well as Norway and Turkey, highlighted Spain’s largest-ever seizure, of 13 tonnes of cocaine hidden in bananas from Ecuador, as an example of cartels' use of standard shipping lanes.
Besides warning policymakers across the EU’s 27 capitals to prepare for more violence, Goosdeel sounded the alarm about a looming public health threat. Whereas addiction and overdose from opioids can be treatable, that is not the case for stimulants.
Their growing use “suggests that in four or five years time we will face most probably an increase in the needs for treatment and we don’t have any pharmacological standard treatment available,” he said. "You don’t have anything magic in terms of medicine that would help to stabilize them, to cut the craving and to help them really disconnect from this extremely huge addiction. So it’s time to invest.”
Europe remains the leading producer and exporter of ecstasy. The agency’s early warning system to spot new synthetic drugs has identified 1,000 new substances in its 27 years of existence. Goosdeel said he wouldn't be surprised if, of the total, more than half were detected in the past decade. The period has ushered in “an entirely different world,” he said.
“Drugs are everywhere, including those we produce in Europe. Everything can be used as a drug,” he said.
Speaking alongside Goosdeel at the report’s presentation, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, pledged that authorities will crack down harder on cartels.
“We will take the fight to organized crime by different approaches, by following the money with a new and also more intense efforts to cut off funding and also to seize the illegal profits that come from the drugs trade,” Brunner said.
Goosdeel insists that, while policymakers should tackle the issue of drug-related violence, they must continue caring for users rather than jailing or shunning them, as some critics say the United States’ “war on drugs” has done. Europe's approach has formed the basis of a public health response aimed at helping users overcome their addictions.
“We have learned in Europe, and from what happens outside Europe, that to declare war on the people who are using drugs is not the solution,” he said.
Seized packages of cocaine are presented to media during a news conference at police headquarters in Hamburg, Sept. 27, 2024. (Marcus Brandt/dpa via AP)
Used syringes and other drug paraphernalia lie on the floor of a public toilet in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Special police force officers secure packages of seized cocaine as they are presented to a news conference at police headquarters in Hamburg, Sept. 27, 2024. (Marcus Brandt/dpa via AP)
BOSTON (AP) — Victor Wembanyama scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, including a game-sealing jumper with 19.2 seconds left, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Boston Celtics 100-95 on Saturday night.
De’Aaron Fox also finished with 21 points for the Spurs and Keldon Johnson added 18 points and 10 rebounds. San Antonio won its second straight after losing two in a row.
Derrick White led Boston with 29 points and Jaylen Brown had 27. The Celtics lost for just the third time in 12 games.
The game was tied at 84 before Baylor Scheierman’s corner 3-pointer pushed Boston ahead with just under seven minutes left. White followed with a driving basket before the Spurs went on a 9-2 spree, taking a 93-91 lead on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 2:14 left.
After Brown’s layup tied it, Wembanyama’s fadeaway jumper pushed San Antonio back in front with 1:33 to go.
Brown was then stripped of the ball near midcourt by Fox, and Julian Champagnie converted a putback of his own miss to make it 97-93 with 41 seconds left.
Wembanyama’s left-wing jumper made it 99-95.
Playing his third straight game after missing a pair with a sore knee, Wembanyama didn’t score his first points until hitting a 3 from the top midway into the second quarter.
But he got going in the second half, scoring nine consecutive points for San Antonio midway into the third quarter, bringing the Spurs back from a nine-point deficit to tie it on his three-point play.
CAVALIERS 146, TIMBERWOLVES 134
CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took control in the second half for a victory over Minnesota on that snapped the Timberwolves’ four-game winning streak.
Mitchell also had four 3-pointers as the Cavaliers had five players score at least 20 points. Evan Mobley had 24 points, Jaylon Tyson scored 23 off the bench and Darius Garland added 22.
Sam Merrill had 20 points and set a franchise record with at least five 3-pointers in four straight games.
The 146 points are the fourth most the Cavaliers have scored in a regulation game. They scored 148 in a 33-point victory over Washington on Nov. 7.
PACERS 123, HEAT 99
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Nembhard had 29 points and nine assists, Aaron Nesmith added 12 points and nine rebounds before an early exit and Indiana routed Miami.
Indiana matched its longest winning streak of the season with a rare second straight victory, this time taking the easy route. The Pacers never trailed and held a double-digit lead for most of the game. The Pacers made 17 3-pointers, one short of their season high, with Nembhard matching his season best with four.
Backup Micah Potter made four 3s and finished with 14 points. Jarace Walker had 13 points.
Tyler Herro had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists on a night Miami shot just 39.1% from the field. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 16 points, and Bam Adebayo had 13 points and nine rebounds. Miami has lost three of its last four and missed its first 11 3s on Saturday.
The game tipped less than 24 hours after another Miami-Indiana contest was set up in college football’s national championship game. And just like Friday night’s Hoosiers victory over Oregon, the Pacers wasted no time setting the tone — or running out to a big lead.
They used first-quarter runs of 12-2 and 9-0 to build an early 28-12 cushion. Miami trailed 36-18 entering the second quarter.
CLIPPERS 98, PISTONS 92
DETROIT (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and John Collins added 25 as Los Angeles rallied to beat short-handed Detroit.
The Clippers trailed by 19 points in the first half and 14 in the fourth quarter before finishing the game on a 28-8 run. Detroit turned the ball over 12 times in the quarter.
James Harden added 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Los Angeles, which has won nine of 11.
The Pistons played without Cade Cunningham (wrist), Isaiah Stewart (illness), Tobias Harris (hip) and Jalen Duren (ankle). That left Detroit without its top three scorers, three of their top four rebounders and their top three shot blockers. Cunningham also has 321 assists — the only player who entered Saturday’s action with more than 100.
Duncan Robinson scored 20 points, but took just one shot in the second half. Ron Holland II scored 16 and Tolu Smith added nine points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
BULLS 125, MAVERICKS 107
CHICAGO (AP) — Coby White scored 22 points, Ayo Dosunmu had 20 and Chicago beat Dallas to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Bulls put seven players in double figures, outscored the Mavericks 38-8 in fast-break points and never trailed. Nikola Vucevic and Matas Buzelis each added 15 points as Chicago shot 51.5% from the field.
The Mavericks began the game without the injured Anthony Davis and lost coach Jason Kidd midway through the first quarter of it after he was ejected for arguing with referee Scott Foster.
Ryan Nembhard had 16 points and six assists for the Mavericks. Rookie star Cooper Flagg finished with just 11 points and one rebound, shooting 4 for 13.
Dallas lost its second straight after winning two in a row. Davis sustained ligament damage in his left hand in the Mavericks’ loss to Utah on Thursday.
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) grabs a defensive rebound against San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
