News releases
Below you will find a list of news releases disseminated by the EMCDDA.
For supplementary information on these releases, see Media support.
Earlier releases can be accessed through our archive.
To download a news release, click on the relevant language and format below.
Injecting drug use — stable or declining in most European countries
(24.6.2010, LISBON) Injecting drug use is strongly associated with severe health problems in drug users, including both blood-borne infections (e.g. HIV/AIDS, hepatitis) and overdose. But the latest analysis of this practice is encouraging, says the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). In a new report released today ahead of International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking (26 June), the agency describes how injecting drug use is now stable or declining in most European countries.
Download the report on injecting drug use.
International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking (26 June)
Speech by the Director at the EMCDDA reception
Speech by Portuguese Minister for Health at EMCDDA reception
Photos from the reception on Flickr (external site)
Council calls on EU scientific experts to assess risks of mephedrone
(27.5.2010, LISBON) Europe has responded to rising concern over the use of the synthetic drug mephedrone by formally requesting a scientific investigation into the health and social risks of the substance. The decision was communicated to the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) by the Council of the EU today, in line with a legal procedure designed to respond to potentially threatening new psychoactive drugs in the EU.
Latest analysis of cocaine market highlights ‘secondary extraction’ laboratories in Europe
(29.4.2010, LISBON) Increasingly sophisticated techniques to conceal and smuggle cocaine into Europe are reviewed in a new EMCDDA–Europol market analysis — Cocaine: A European Union perspective in the global context. Published today, the review provides insight into how cocaine is produced and trafficked into the EU, the people involved, routes taken, and the scale of the problem in Europe. Also analysed are some of the supply reduction initiatives already developed at European level.
Record number of new drugs reported in 2009, says report
(23.4.2010,
EU drugs agency publishes major work on harm reduction: past, present and future
(21.4.2010, LISBON) Harm reduction is now an integral part of contemporary drug policies and plays an important role in responding to drug use in Europe. But this has not always been the case, say the experts. In a major new scientific work on the subject published today by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA), leading European and international specialists chart how harm reduction shifted from controversy to mainstream.