Europe's cocaine capitals, measured in sewage: what the 2025 wastewater study found
Once a year, scientists across Europe sample the sewage of more than 100 cities and measure benzoylecgonine — the metabolite every human body produces after cocaine. It is the most objective drug-consumption data on Earth: nobody can lie to a sewer. The SCORE network's latest round (2025 sampling, published through the EU Drugs Agency) landed on a record market.
The top of the table
Milligrams of benzoylecgonine per 1,000 people per day:
| City | Load |
|---|---|
| Lleida, Spain | 1,405 |
| Antwerp, Belgium | 1,382 |
| Granada, Spain | 1,238 |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | 1,172 |
| Liège, Belgium | 1,039 |
| Brussels, Belgium | 1,020 |
Three patterns stand out:
- 1. Spain has arrived at the top. Lleida and Granada out-sewage the traditional Belgian and Dutch capitals — Spain is both Europe's biggest cocaine seizure country (124 tonnes in 2024, an EU record) and now its heaviest per-capita consumer in the wastewater table.
- 2. Antwerp stays elite. Down from its all-time 2023 record (1,722 mg) but still near the top — and its port seized another 44.6 tonnes in 2024.
- 3. The whole continent is rising. Average cocaine loads across measured cities rose about 22% in a single year. Cocaine is no longer a western-Europe-only story: cities in the east and north are climbing from a low base.
Full rankings and per-city context: Cocaine cities: Europe.
The sleeper finding: ketamine
Cocaine's 22% jump was outpaced by ketamine — up 41% across measured cities, the fastest-growing signal in the whole study. MDMA loads fell 16% in the same period. Analysts read it as a price-and-availability shift: cocaine and ketamine are cheap and everywhere; MDMA supply tightened.
What this means in practice
- - Record supply = record purity. Europe seized 330 tonnes in 2024 and checking services report the purest street cocaine ever measured. Stronger product hooks faster and hits the heart harder.
- - Weekend spikes in three-quarters of cities confirm the pattern: this is a payday-and-nightlife drug — which is exactly why "only on weekends" habits quietly become weekday ones.
- - The help is free. Every country in the table runs confidential addiction lines: Cocaine help in Europe.
Sources: SCORE wastewater network / EU Drugs Agency wastewater analysis (2025 sampling round); EUDA European Drug Report 2026 (seizure statistics).
Related: Cocaine cities: Europe — full ranking · Cocaine prices in Europe · Ketamine profile · Cocaine · Quit cocaine · Help lines