Visits and occasions
2007
A clearer insight into Europe’s drug problems
Drug use impacts on the health, well-being and security of virtually all European citizens. A recent Eurobarometer survey published last month revealed that 37% of respondents placed tackling the drug problem among the top three priorities for the EU. And an earlier Eurobarometer survey on young people and drugs showed that 79% of respondents considered it easy to obtain drugs at parties. While the drug problem remains ever-present, Europe has made a significant difference in addressing the issue over the years whether through monitoring the situation, informing drug policy or detecting potential threats to public health.
The current plan lists around 100 actions against drugs to be implemented by the EU and its Member States by the end of 2008 and clearly indicates assessment tools, indicators and deadlines for each of them. These actions include improving the quality of drug treatment services, reducing drug-related deaths and strengthening controls at Europe’s external borders to stem the flow of incoming drugs. The EMCDDA helps evaluate implementation of the plan at the request of the European Commission.
Following the EU’s example, nearly all EU Member States now frame their policy initiatives within an overall and measurable national drugs strategy or action plan. Although national policy remains the prerogative of individual countries and policy differences are still evident, countries are increasingly moving in the same direction.
Before the EMCDDA existed, drug-related data in the EU Member States were scattered and heterogeneous, making it virtually impossible to draw a comparable and reliable picture of the drugs problem in Europe on which common action by the Member States and the Community could be based. As a result, policy formulation at national and EU level often tended to be based on speculation rather than hard facts.
Following over a decade of developing data-collection and reporting, information on the European drug phenomenon is increasingly comparable and robust. Proof of this is the EMCDDA’s flagship publication, the Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe, now an authoritative reference work. Today the EMCDDA can offer policy-makers an evidence-based overview of the drug situation from the Atlantic all the way to the Russian border.
Experts in an early-warning network in the EU Member States, the EMCDDA and Europol keep their ear to the ground and issue alerts on new dangers, assessing risks and proposing controls as appropriate. The new EMCDDA mission statement which came into force on 16 January 2007 gives the agency a more active role in monitoring new drug use patterns and emerging trends.
Drug use impacts on the health, well-being and security of virtually all European citizens. A recent Eurobarometer survey published last month revealed that 37% of respondents placed tackling the drug problem among the top three priorities for the EU. And an earlier Eurobarometer survey on young people and drugs showed that 79% of respondents considered it easy to obtain drugs at parties. While the drug problem remains ever-present, Europe has made a significant difference in addressing the issue over the years whether through monitoring the situation, informing drug policy or detecting potential threats to public health.
EU drug strategies and action plans — bringing countries closer together
Since 1990, the EU has drawn up successive drug strategies and action plans to reduce the demand for illicit drugs, combat illicit drug trafficking and increase coordination between Member States on drug issues. More than 15 years later, the current EU drug strategy (2005–2012) and action plan (2005–2008) are underpinned by consensus between countries on many issues including, the need to reduce both supply and demand, the importance of collecting and sharing information, identifying good practice and coordinating action to respond to the problem.The current plan lists around 100 actions against drugs to be implemented by the EU and its Member States by the end of 2008 and clearly indicates assessment tools, indicators and deadlines for each of them. These actions include improving the quality of drug treatment services, reducing drug-related deaths and strengthening controls at Europe’s external borders to stem the flow of incoming drugs. The EMCDDA helps evaluate implementation of the plan at the request of the European Commission.
Following the EU’s example, nearly all EU Member States now frame their policy initiatives within an overall and measurable national drugs strategy or action plan. Although national policy remains the prerogative of individual countries and policy differences are still evident, countries are increasingly moving in the same direction.
EMCDDA, providing sound information for drug policy-making
Thanks to the creation of the EMCDDA in 1993, drug policy-making in nearly 30 European countries can now be based on information that is factual, objective, reliable and comparable.Before the EMCDDA existed, drug-related data in the EU Member States were scattered and heterogeneous, making it virtually impossible to draw a comparable and reliable picture of the drugs problem in Europe on which common action by the Member States and the Community could be based. As a result, policy formulation at national and EU level often tended to be based on speculation rather than hard facts.
Following over a decade of developing data-collection and reporting, information on the European drug phenomenon is increasingly comparable and robust. Proof of this is the EMCDDA’s flagship publication, the Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe, now an authoritative reference work. Today the EMCDDA can offer policy-makers an evidence-based overview of the drug situation from the Atlantic all the way to the Russian border.
Developing a ‘common language’ for drug reporting
Central to the EMCDDA’s work are efforts to improve the comparability of drug information across Europe and to devise the methods and tools required to do so. The EMCDDA works with the EU Member States to develop harmonised data-collection tools and indicators which provide countries with a ‘common language’ with which to describe and analyse the drug phenomenon. As a result of efforts to date, countries can now compare their drug situations, view how they fit into the wider European picture and examine common problems and possible solutions.Reitox — observing national drug problems
The Reitox network of national drug information centres was set up by the EMCDDA to monitor the drug problem in the 27 EU Member States, Norway, Turkey and at the European Commission. Through structures and systems designed to describe their national drugs situation within the European context, these drug-specialised ‘focal points’ provide the EMCDDA with regular statistics, qualitative information and annual reports on the main national drug trends and developments.Anticipating threats to public health
The EMCDDA largely collects and disseminates data on the use of substances controlled by the United Nations drug conventions. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly active in monitoring new substances not listed in these conventions, but which may pose health and social risks to our societies. Today this activity is carried out under the terms of a specific legal instrument adopted by the Council of the European Union in 2005 which allows the EU institutions and Member States to act on all new and potentially threatening narcotic and psychotropic drugs that appear on the European drug scene.Experts in an early-warning network in the EU Member States, the EMCDDA and Europol keep their ear to the ground and issue alerts on new dangers, assessing risks and proposing controls as appropriate. The new EMCDDA mission statement which came into force on 16 January 2007 gives the agency a more active role in monitoring new drug use patterns and emerging trends.
EMCDDA, your reference point on drugs in Europe
The creation of the EMCDDA symbolised a major political decision to base drug-related policies on scientific and technical evidence, in itself, a political advancement. The EMCDDA works on the assumption that sound information is the key to effective strategies on drugs. Although it cannot propose any policy model, it makes a clear impact on decision-making through its analyses, instruments and methods.| ‘To effectively respond to the drugs problem, policy-makers and practitioners across Europe need to be sure that the information they are working with is both sound and comparable. The role of the EMCDDA is to bring them such information and to keep them up to date on an ever-changing drug phenomenon’ EMCDDA Director, Wolfgang Götz |
EMCDDA hosts meeting of Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre–Narcotics
(20.03.07, LISBON) Today the EMCDDA hosts a meeting of the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre–Narcotics (MAOC–N), an operational body being set up to tackle maritime drug smuggling in Europe.
Currently in its developmental phase, MAOC–N will be fully established in Lisbon later this year. It has the status of an informal inter-governmental working group or taskforce comprising seven EU Member States: France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
MAOC–N’s mission will be to enhance criminal intelligence and coordinate police action on the high seas, with a view to intercepting vessels carrying cocaine and cannabis. Naval and law-enforcement bodies (police, customs) participate in MAOC–N, although the latter will lead the operations.
The US attends MAOC–N meetings as observer, represented by its Miami-based ‘Joint inter-agency taskforce–South’, run by the US military and including British and Dutch participation. Also attending today’s meeting as observers are the European Commission and Europol.
The fact that the MAOC–N meeting takes place at the EMCDDA represents another step forward for the agency in cooperation with other international bodies in the drugs field.
Lisbon is now the seat of the EMCDDA, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and MAOC–N.
(20.03.07, LISBON) Today the EMCDDA hosts a meeting of the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre–Narcotics (MAOC–N), an operational body being set up to tackle maritime drug smuggling in Europe.
Currently in its developmental phase, MAOC–N will be fully established in Lisbon later this year. It has the status of an informal inter-governmental working group or taskforce comprising seven EU Member States: France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
MAOC–N’s mission will be to enhance criminal intelligence and coordinate police action on the high seas, with a view to intercepting vessels carrying cocaine and cannabis. Naval and law-enforcement bodies (police, customs) participate in MAOC–N, although the latter will lead the operations.
The US attends MAOC–N meetings as observer, represented by its Miami-based ‘Joint inter-agency taskforce–South’, run by the US military and including British and Dutch participation. Also attending today’s meeting as observers are the European Commission and Europol.
The fact that the MAOC–N meeting takes place at the EMCDDA represents another step forward for the agency in cooperation with other international bodies in the drugs field.
Lisbon is now the seat of the EMCDDA, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and MAOC–N.
Health committee of the Portuguese Parliament visits EMCDDA
(24.1.2007,
At the close of the meeting, both sides agreed to explore ways to improve dialogue in order to ensure that evidence-based information on drugs may reach Portuguese policy-makers, and in particular the Portuguese Parliament, in a timely, tailored and targeted way.
The EMCDDA will be collaborating closely with IDT under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU later this year on preparations for an IDT conference focusing on the evaluation of national drug policies, an area where
Today’s visit follows the entry into force on 16 January of a new EMCDDA mission statement, which updates and replaces its founding regulation of 1993. The new remit will help the agency respond to new challenges in the drugs field, particularly ‘emerging trends in polydrug use’ including the combined use of licit and illicit psychoactive substances.
