Youth drug crisis in Romania: fragmented data and rising synthetic drugs
Thousands of young people appear in medical, judicial and prison records because of drugs, but Romania cannot precisely quantify the extent of the phenomenon. Data from institutions are not comparable with each other.
Romania cannot measure exactly how many young people are affected by drugs
Jurnalul.ro reports that thousands of young people end up annually in the medical, judicial or prison system due to drug use, but the Romanian state does not have a unified mechanism to allow precise quantification of the phenomenon.
The first edition of the ABC Barometer, launched by the Common Good Alliance, documents a structural dysfunction: public institutions collect data according to different criteria, for different periods, which makes it impossible to build a coherent national picture.
According to data centralised in the ABC Barometer, 6,548 cases or patients under the age of 25 appear in medical records. A further 3,827 people from the same age category were prosecuted in drug-related cases, and 477 ended up in prisons. The three figures cannot, however, be added together to obtain a total number of affected young people: the databases cover different periods, may include the same people, and do not allow tracking of an individual's trajectory between the medical, judicial and prison systems.
Huge differences between counties, difficult to interpret
A map produced as part of the ABC Barometer illustrates how difficult it is to compare the situation from one county to another. Cluj reported 1,751 cases or patients in the period 2021–2025, Brașov – 547, Hunedoara – 442, Bucharest – 367, and Argeș – 316. At the opposite end, Dâmbovița and Vrancea each reported nine cases.
The difference between Cluj and the counties at the bottom of the ranking is nearly 195 times. This does not, however, necessarily reflect a consumption rate 195 times greater. Some institutions reported patients, others the number of doctor visits, and regional centres treat people from neighbouring counties as well. Without uniform reporting criteria, authorities cannot determine with precision where additional resources are needed for prevention, counselling and treatment.
The most recent national data included in the ABC analysis, for the year 2023, recorded 3,089 medical emergencies associated with drug use and 34 deaths, of which 25 caused by overdose. Cannabis was associated with 47.1% of treatment requests, opioids with 20.2%, and novel psychoactive substances with 16.7%.
Schools without early prevention resources
An additional vulnerability appears in the education system. In the school year 2024–2025, one school counsellor was responsible for approximately 760 pupils. At the same time, there is a lack of comparable national data on cases identified early in schools and on young people referred to counselling services before coming to the attention of doctors, police or prosecutors. The system manages primarily to count the consequences of use, after the problem has reached a sufficiently grave threshold.
Synthetic drugs: the current main threat
While the ABC Barometer signals the difficulty in measuring the phenomenon, experts warn that the drug market is transforming rapidly. Anti-drug expert Cătălin Țone stated, in the podcast "Contrapunct" moderated by Dan Andronic, that synthetic drugs currently represent the main threat to Romania.
"Synthetic drugs represent Romania's biggest problem at the present time," Cătălin Țone warned.
The expert distinguishes between the situation in Romania and the fentanyl crisis in the United States. Romania does not face a major phenomenon related to fentanyl, with seizures being isolated, but has "a significant problem with other synthetic drugs," according to Țone. Among the problematic substances are cathinones and synthetic cannabinoids, in a market where new formulas constantly appear. The pace is so rapid that, according to European data cited by the expert, over 50 new substances were identified in a single year – equivalent to approximately one new drug per week.
First clandestine laboratories discovered in Romania
Another alarm signal is represented by the emergence of local production. Cătălin Țone mentioned the discovery, in the course of this year, of a complex laboratory in Brașov – which had not yet begun production – and a small amphetamine laboratory identified at Petrova, in Maramureș. The expert does not rule out the emergence of other such facilities, given that there is an internal market and constant demand for substances.
In parallel, drugs considered "classic" have also evolved. Marijuana currently available can record THC concentrations much higher than in the past. Some seizures reach concentrations of 15–20% THC, and concentrated products can reach significantly higher levels, according to the same expert.
What the Common Good Alliance proposes
The Common Good Alliance, an initiative of the Foundation for the Defence of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS), proposes the creation of a unified national system for reporting cases associated with drug use. The proposals include a common definition of a medical case in all counties, a clear separation between the number of people and the number of medical episodes, annual publication of data broken down by age, sex, substance and county, consolidation of the school counselling network, and development of regional assessment and treatment services.
Without such a system, Romania risks continuing to count the consequences of a phenomenon it cannot observe in real time – and to intervene only after an adolescent has become a figure in a medical, judicial or prison statistic.
Source: Jurnalul.ro