Today, the EMCDDA is holding the second annual meeting of its Legal and policy correspondents’ network for non-EU partners, following an inaugural meeting in October 2021.
The EMCDDA’s regular EU Legal and policy correspondents’ network was established in 2000 to exchange information on drug laws and policies. In 2021, the agency enlarged the scope of its work in this area by building a second network of correspondents from the partners of the EMCDDA technical cooperation projects (IPA7 and EU4MD).
Today’s online meeting, which will welcome participants from 12 countries, allowed for an exchange of knowledge and understanding on core drug law penalties. It will also hold in-depth discussions on the policy aspects of cannabis cultivation.
Following the creation of this new network, the EMCDDA’s online 'Penalties at a glance' tool is being updated to include information about drug laws from EMCDDA partners outside the EU. Data from eight countries and partners — Armenia, Algeria, Georgia, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine — were added to the tool earlier this year, complementing information from the 27 EU Member States, Norway and Turkey. The most recent additions to the tool are Jordan and Palestine.**
The online tool can help users explore how countries’ legislative penalties vary according to the type and quantity of the drug and to the offender’s level of addiction or recidivism. Data from additional countries will be included in the course of 2022.
The annual meeting of the regular EU Legal and policy correspondents’ network will take place from 22–23 June.
