Poland

Poland is a former communist bloc nation in central Europe with a population of 38.6 million people in 2004. It joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Along with other former Soviet states new to the EU, Poland has developed serious problems of drug use and trafficking since the end of communism, and continues to work with a set of drug policies created under Soviet influence.

For many years the Polish drug of choice was kompot, which was created by a Gdansk chemistry student in the mid-1970s. Kompot is an addictive poppy derivative that, when taken intravenously, has effects similar to those of heroin. Seventy-five percent of the 30,000–40,000 drug addicts in Poland use kompot, which is often homemade. Addicts registered by the police due to ...