EU Drug Market: MDMA — Global context
This resource is part of EU Drug Market: MDMA — In-depth analysis by the EUDA and Europol.
Worldwide, approximately 20 million people used MDMA and ecstasy-type substances (1) according to 2022 estimates, which represents 0.4 % of the global population between 15 and 64 years of age (UNODC, 2024). The figure is comparable to 2022 estimates of the global number of users of cocaine, at 23.5 million people. According to wastewater-based analysis and rapid assessment studies performed in Europe and Oceania, use of MDMA appeared to decline temporarily during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 2023 data suggest an increase in the use and availability of MDMA in Australia and a return to pre-pandemic levels in New Zealand (UNODC, 2024). The temporary decrease of MDMA use during the COVID-19 pandemic followed the broader pattern of a decrease in the global demand for synthetic drugs used in recreational settings during periods of social distancing, which included the closure of clubs and venues and the cancellation of events such as music festivals (EMCDDA and Europol, 2019).
The largest consumer markets for MDMA are East and South-East Asia, Western and Central Europe (see Figure 3.1. Number of MDMA/ecstasy users, by region and selected sub-regions). The highest prevalence of use is reported in Australia and New Zealand.
Source: UNODC, 2024.
The supply of MDMA to these markets is largely met by illicit production based in Europe, which typically accounts for approximately half of the world’s reports of dismantled illicit MDMA laboratories, but also in Oceania, Asia and the Americas (UNODC, 2022). Canada, for example, has been known to produce large amounts of MDMA to supply its own market, as well as the United States (Drug Enforcement Administration, 2020). Very large seizures of MDMA precursors were made in Canada in 2023, in separate shipments that amounted to over 3.3 tonnes (Canada Border Services Agency, 2023). Emerging signals suggest that some local production may also be occurring in Latin America, particularly in Brazil but also in Chile, Argentina and Paraguay (UNODC, 2020). In recent years, production in these countries appears to have moved from cutting and tableting operations to also include the manufacture of MDMA (UNODC, 2021).
Between 2018 and 2022, Europe accounted for over two fifths (43 %) of the quantity of MDMA seized worldwide, underscoring the region’s importance for MDMA production and trafficking. North America accounted for 27 % of all quantities seized, followed by Asia (14 %) and Oceania (12 %) (see Figure 3.2.Regional distribution of the quantity of MDMA seized worldwide in the period 2018-2022) (UNODC, 2024). In 2022, around 12 tonnes of MDMA was seized, a 15 % increase on the previous year, mostly due to increasing seizures in South America and North America (UNODC, 2024). This suggests that the drop in seizures seen in 2021 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic was temporary. Still, the quantity seized in 2022 has not reached the 22.4 tonnes of seized MDMA reported in 2020 (UNODC, 2023) (2).
Source: UNODC, 2024.
(1) At international level, MDMA is monitored alongside ecstasy-type substances. These include structurally similar compounds such as MDA and MDEA, which are largely under-represented when compared to MDMA in statistics.
(2) Overall, between 2010 and 2020, the quantity of MDMA seized worldwide (combined weight of tablets and crystals) almost quadrupled, from the equivalent of 6.4 tonnes in 2010 to 22.4 tonnes in 2020.
References
Consult the list of references used in this module.
Source data
The data used to generate the infographics and charts on this page may be found below (CSV format). Additional information, metadata and methodological notes may be found in the EU Drug Market: MDMA source data entry in our data catalogue.