According to the report, methamphetamine has become the country’s most popular drug, along with marijuana, with the trade heavily influenced by foreign involvement.
By definition, small labs typically make 50 grams of the drug per production cycle, and it is suspected that there are now hundreds of these operating around the country. Larger labs, on the other hand, mainly focus on the manufacture of drugs for export.
In recent times, says the report, Europe’s ports have become a destination for cheaper ‘Mexican meth’ made with slightly different ingredients. Despite the price difference, Mexican meth has yet to be popularized in the Czech Republic with natives preferring the higher quality of the Czech product.
Known as Pervitin, Czech meth sells for between CZK 500,000 and 600,000 (€20,100–€24,100) per kilo, while Mexican meth, say the NPC, typically costs between CZK 375,000 and 400,000 (€15,065–€16,070) per kilo.
Despite these figures, the NPC did note that Mexican meth was beginning to make inroads in the Czech Republic.
The caseload handled by the National Anti-Drug Headquarters also showed that drug tourism was booming on all the country’s borders and that discounted exports were directed towards Slovakia and Poland. The report also mentioned that the Czechs wielded “significant influence on the drug trade in border regions of Germany.”
The number of drug prosecutions has, however, remained stable with charges brought against 3,415 people in 2023 for drug offenses. The majority of these were Czech, with 330 listed as foreigners—mainly from Slovakia.
Prague and Central Bohemia reported the highest number of cases, with Zlin recording the lowest. The most common offense was for illegal production and handling of drugs, followed by drug possession for personal use.
The report makes grim reading for the Czechs - just last year, a study conducted by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction named the Czech Republic as having the highest concentration of meth users in Europe.
The study analyzed wastewater across Europe and found that Ostrava, Prague and Karlovy Vary had the highest rates of meth abuse on the continent.
