Britain ranks in the top three for heroin and ecstasy abuse in Europe and has the biggest amphetamine problem in the region, a United Nations drugs watchdog said on Wednesday.

“Cocaine abuse appears to be increasing in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland,” the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) wrote in its 2004 annual report.

It estimates that more than 200 tonnes of cocaine are smuggled into Europe every year, entering the region mainly via Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Cannabis is increasingly being grown locally, particularly in member states of the European Union, the INCB said in the report, adding that its use had grown in almost all countries over the past decade.

“The above mentioned upward trend in cannabis use seems to be related to the efforts by some to promote the notion that cannabis use is not harmful.”

In Western Europe, Luxembourg is the country with the highest level of opiate abuse, followed by Portugal and the United Kingdom. Britain heads the table for the most heroin seized.

For ecstasy abuse, Britain ranks third behind Ireland and the Czech Republic while it is number for amphetamines one ahead of Ireland, Denmark, and Spain.