Hajdari: Cocaine use prevalence in Albania at 41 percent, young people experiment with drugs at an early age

Ritvana Hajdari, a public policy analyst at the Tirana-based Center for Civic Resistance, has stated that the prevalence of cocaine use in Albania stands at 41 percent, while the figure for the Western Balkans is nearly half that level, at 21 percent. She emphasized that it is particularly concerning that young people in Albania begin experimenting with drugs at a very early age.

“The use of psychoactive substances in Albania is a phenomenon that begins very early in adolescents’ lives and is on the rise. According to the report Health Behavior in School-aged Children, seven percent of fifteen-year-olds have tried cannabis at least once. Furthermore, five percent of students reported having used it within the previous 20 days. These statistics clearly demonstrate that drug use among young people begins at an exceptionally early age,” Hajdari told Kosovo Online.

She added that, according to a European drug survey, Albania has an exceptionally high prevalence of cocaine use at 41 percent, significantly exceeding the Western Balkans average of 21 percent and the European Union average of 29 percent.

“As for the most commonly used psychoactive substance in our country, it is cannabis, accounting for 56 percent. A particularly alarming finding concerns the use of psychoactive substances in social settings. Usage in school environments reaches 17 percent, while in workplaces it stands at 11 percent. We are talking about environments that should be among the safest and most structured, and this clearly indicates that access to these substances is easy and that they are widely available. Police data relating to youth and adolescents show that fifteen-year-olds are increasingly involved in criminal offenses linked to psychoactive substances. Statistics for 2020 recorded 75 such cases among those aged 15 to 17, while in 2025 that figure rose to 147. For the 18-to-29 age group, the number reached 1,797 cases last year,” Hajdari said.

She noted that curiosity is the primary reason young people, particularly teenagers, begin using drugs.

“It may be related to the social group they belong to and their desire to be included and accepted. Drug use may also begin when young people themselves emigrate or when their parents emigrate. It may stem from social isolation or a lack of hope for the future. There are many other contributing factors. Our country lacks adequate preventive structures capable of identifying young people who may be at risk of turning experimentation with drugs into addiction. The only treatment currently offered is methadone therapy, a substance generally used once drug dependence has already become established. While there may be cases in which this treatment is successful, it is very common for individuals to relapse into drug use if they do not receive support from the community, if they do not have a suitable place for themselves, and if they fail to integrate into the environment in which they live,” Hajdari explained.

She recommended that public policies should focus on preventing drug abuse and rehabilitating young people, while schools should establish more effective support systems.

“Psycho-social services should be more active and more accessible to young people, because this is a problem that involves several interconnected actors. It begins within the family; if the family is unable to cope with it, taking into account parents’ educational and cultural background and the circumstances in which they find themselves, responsibility shifts to the school, and subsequently to the relevant public institutions. In addition to ensuring that school support structures function effectively, we also need properly functioning community centers. These centers should be more accessible to young people. It would be a reasonable proposal for the state to establish a multifunctional residential rehabilitation center, fully funded by public resources, capable of providing all forms of treatment young people may need—from the earliest stage of prevention to cases where drug addiction has become severe,” Hajdari concluded.