Additionally, these cases show that the Balkan Route is increasingly moving other drugs, especially cocaine. Ships flying a Greek flag or owned by companies controlled by Greek or Cypriot ship owners have been implicated in several drug trafficking cases in Poland, Russia, the Benelux countries, Egypt, Southeast Asia, and on the high seas, pushed the antidrug coordinating body which was established in Greece in 1996 to include, apart from officials from the ministries of the economy and the interior, representatives from merchant shipping. The days when the Greeks could informally smoke the marijuana grown in Kalamata, Trikala and Xanthi seem to be over. The multiplication of seizures and the proliferation of drugs is accompanied by a rise in fatalities by overdosing from 10 cases annually in the early 1980s to more than 160 in 1995 and 1996. The total heroin addict population in Greece is estimated at 100,000.
First experiments involve marijuana and synthetic substances.
Thus, Greece, as most of the countries initially used as transit territories, is on its way to becoming a significant consumer market for heroin and cocaine. Another clue to this development is the fact that the smugglers passing through the country are increasingly transporting medium-size batches of drugs, from 2 kg to 5 kg, and are often working for their own benefit. Meanwhile, on richer markets along the coast, such as Glyfada, Varkiza, and Phaliron, more and more cocaine is available. Furthermore, a map of deaths by overdose shows that heroin use is widespread in the provinces. A new development, as everywhere else in Europe, is the rise of synthetic drugs.