editorial comment Strangely, Ireland's GDP per capita is now more than 20% above the European average, while it has been one of the world's fastest developing economies for years. Hum, maybe illegal drugs improve productivity after all.....:)

Ilegal drug use in Ireland is among the highest in the world, shocking new figures reveal.

The Republic has the highest rate of Ecstasy and amphetamine use in Europe and the second highest rate of cocaine abuse.

The figures come from the 46-nation Council of Europe's annual report on the state of organised crime.

It says about 185m people worldwide - 3% of the global population - use illegal drugs.

Nearly 80% of them use cannabis, 20% use Ecstasy and amphetamines, 7% use cocaine and 3% use heroin.

The report shows the Russian Federation as having the biggest heroin problem, with 2.1% of the population using the drug. Britain recorded by far the largest heroin seizures in 2002, with 3,929kg impounded.

Britain also seized the most amphetamines, including Ecstasy - 1,716kg.

But Ireland has the highest amphetamine use in Europe (1.6%).

Ecstasy use in Ireland, at 3.4%, is among the highest in the world, followed by the Czech Republic (2.5%) and the UK (2%).

Drug trafficking is considered a major "primary problem", in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

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