Greek drug-trafficking networks are changing rapidly, with authorities recording a stronger presence of new psychoactive substances, more flexible smuggling routes and increasingly sophisticated methods of distribution.

Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on the occasion of today’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Police Deputy Director Giannis Karydakis, head of the Drug Enforcement Sub-Directorate of Greece’s Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, described a market that is constantly adapting to pressure from law enforcement, new technologies and changing patterns of consumption.

According to data from the Drug Enforcement Sub-Directorate, from October 2024 to the present, officers have handled 323 drug cases and made 646 arrests. During the same period, they seized 1.8 tonnes of cocaine, 5.2 tonnes of raw cannabis, 174.5 kilos of processed cannabis, 135.2 kilos of heroin, 9,251 cannabis plants and 18,265 ecstasy pills.

Karydakis said that “the networks trafficking drugs are constantly changing”, both in their structure and in the methods they use. Since the pandemic, he noted, there has been a clear increase in the use of online applications and the shipment of drugs through postal parcels, a method he described as a new modus operandi for criminal networks.

He also referred to the so-called “waterbed effect”: when police pressure is applied to one trafficking route or entry point, the activity does not disappear but shifts elsewhere. Large seizures at ports such as Piraeus and Thessaloniki have pushed trafficking networks to seek alternative routes, giving greater importance to other points of entry.

As for the Greek market itself, Karydakis was clear: cannabis and cocaine remain the dominant substances. Heroin, by contrast, appears to be on a downward trend compared with previous years, although it has not disappeared from investigations.

The scale of cocaine trafficking is reflected in the seizures recorded since October 2024, which have reached 1.8 tonnes. According to Karydakis, this is linked to the high level of international supply, which affects both the availability of the drug and the routes it follows before reaching Greece or passing through the country.

At the same time, new categories of substances are creating additional challenges for law enforcement. Karydakis made particular reference to synthetic cannabinoids, which authorities now regard as one of the emerging threats they are monitoring closely. In some cases, he explained, a legal cannabis or cannabinoid product may be processed further, including through spraying, in order to increase its potency and THC levels, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

In this context, he pointed to the legislative change that came into force on May 20, banning the retail sale of cannabinoids because of the risks that had begun to emerge.

He also referred to so-called “pink cocaine”, one of the new psychoactive substances that has appeared on the market, as well as ketamine, which he said appears, to some extent, to be filling part of the gap left by the decline in heroin use as a depressant drug.

The changes are not limited to the substances themselves, but also concern the form in which they appear. Authorities are now encountering products that, until recently, would not have fitted the typical picture of the drug market, including butter containing THC and vaping products with liquefied THC.

Such products show that the market is no longer confined to traditional forms of drugs, but is following new consumption habits and expanding into items that are easier to transport, more discreet to use or more appealing to certain groups of users.

Asked whether Greece is primarily a destination country or a transit country for drugs, Karydakis said it is both, but mainly a transit country, especially for cannabis and cocaine. He attributed this to Greece’s strategic geographical position, its terrain and its extensive coastline.