The COVID-19 impact on the illegal retail drugs market in Latvia and drug use patterns

The COVID-19 impact on the illegal retail drugs market in Latvia and drug use patterns

Blog Article

The purpose of the study is to explore how the COVID-19 situation has affected the illegal retail market and drug use patterns.Three research questions were formulated: 1) What has been the COVID-19 impact on the retail illegal drugs market? 2) How has the pandemic impacted drug use patterns? 3) Are there trends that presumably would have an impact after COVID-19? The mixed method with an explanatory sequential design bar drain board was used in the analysis.At the first stage of the analysis all available quantitative data such as routine administrative data 730 sunken lake road and data from regular surveys were analysed and triangulated.The results of quantitative analysis were supplemented by qualitative data, such as reports.The analysis does not suggest changes on the retail market, except for some increase in cannabis cultivation during the first wave in 2020 and a slight decrease in copyright prevalence on the market in 2021.

Drug use patterns are similar to those before the pandemic, with some exceptions that might indicate more cannabis and copyright use among frequent users.