All files are in MP3 format.
2011: Annual report launch media event, Lisbon, 15.11.2011
2011 Annual report launch media event, Lisbon, 15.11.2011
2010: Annual report launch media event, Lisbon, 10.11.2010
2010 Annual report launch media event, Lisbon, 10.11.2010
2010: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2010: clips 1–10
The EMCDDA and its work
Clip 1. What is the EMCDDA and what is its status and role in relation to the European Union?
Clip 2. How has this evolved in recent years and how is this continuing?
Clip 3. What is the Reitox network and how do its members cooperate with the Centre?
Clip 4. How does the Annual report and related publications fit into the Centre’s work and what are their objectives?
Clip 5. Aside from Reitox, what are the sources for your data?
Clip 6. What kinds of data are your analyses based on?
This year's report
Clip 7. What are the main new challenges laid out in this year’s report?
Clip 8. In the report’s foreword, you and EMCDDA chairman, João Goulão cite the need to ensure that ‘evidence-based interventions are supported’. What does this mean and why do you see it as important?
Clip 9. What else do EU Member States have in common and where do they differ where drug policy is concerned?
Clip 10. You also express fears about the implications of the current economic situation – what are these?
2010: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2010: clips 11–20
Individual drugs
Clip 11. Cannabis remains by far the most prevalent drug in Europe. How widespread is use and what are the trends?
Clip 12. Despite cannabis being much more commonly used, in your summary of the report’s highlights, cocaine gets top billing. Why is that?
Clip 13. What can you say about the trends in cocaine use?
Clip 14. What other stimulants are particularly worth noting?
Clip 15. There were hopes that heroin had ‘gone out of fashion’. What is the outlook now?
Clip 16. What about ecstasy? Is its use a major problem among youngsters?
Clip 17. There have been many media reports about ‘new drugs’. What are these and why should we be worried?
Clip 18. What other likely future challenges are out there?
Clip 19. What can be said about the treatment available to users?
Clip 20. Substitution treatment above all for heroin addicts is highlighted as one success. What is it, how does it help users, and what are the problems?
2010: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2010: clips 21–30
Individual drugs (cont.)
Clip 21. Some observers do question whether long-term use of substitution treatments can be labelled ‘success’ – what can be said about that?
Clip 22. Europe’s general population is ageing and so is that of drug users. What challenges does that pose for treatment services?
Clip 23. On drug-related deaths in general, the report finds no reversal of the upward trend of recent years. What is going on and what can be done about it?
Prevention initiatives
Clip 24. What kind of steps are taken by authorities within the EU to discourage drug use or behaviours that are particularly dangerous to health?
Drug laws and their enforcement
Clip 25. What is the approach taken by European Union Member States where drug laws and their enforcement are concerned?
Clip 26. Portugal’s ‘experiment’ with the decriminalisation of possession and use of small quantities has attracted international media attention, yet this year’s report does not single it out as some publications have. Why?
Relations with other supra-national institutions and nations
Clip 27. On which issues and threats does the EMCDDA work with Europol, the European Police Office?
Clip 28. In the report’s foreword, you mention initiatives to assist non-EU countries develop drug information systems. Can you elaborate?
Clip 29. What is the state of play regarding international conventions on the drug problem?
Clip 30. What kind of contribution can Europe make to the international debate on the drug problem, and how?
2009: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2009: clips 1–10
Clip 1. What are the main developments in the field of drug policy in the past year, a decade on from the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the issue? (mp3)
Clip 2. What is the role of the EMCDDA and the goal of its annual report? (mp3)
Clip 3. What are the main sources of data for the report and how are these processed? (mp3)
Clip 4. In a message for the Report’s launch, you describe Europe as a ‘formidable laboratory’ for the study of drug use and responses. Why, and is it seen as such? (mp3)
Clip 5. Overall, what is the situation with drug use in Europe? (mp3)
Clip 6. What are the most commonly used illicit drugs and how many people use them? (mp3)
Clip 7. What are the trends in cannabis use and what dangers does it present for public health? (mp3)
Clip 8. What about stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamines? (mp3)
Clip 9. Does heroin still dominate problem drug use and drug-induced deaths? (mp3)
Clip 10. Just how many people die from overdoses in Europe? (mp3)
2009: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2009: clips 11–20
Clip 11. The use of several licit and/or illicit drugs at the same time is termed polydrug use. Why is this a growing concern? (mp3)
Clip 12. Alcohol is legal; in what circumstances is its use linked with illicit drugs? (mp3)
Clip 13. Methamphetamines are said to be the most widely consumed synthetic stimulant in the world, linked with major health problems. What is the situation in Europe? (mp3)
Clip 14. Ecstasy once made regular headlines in Europe, with concerns about its dangers for healthy youngsters. What is the situation nowadays? (mp3)
Clip 15. Dealing with the market for synthetic drugs has been described as like ‘hitting a moving target’. Why is that? (mp3)
Clip 16. There is an ever-changing roster of ‘legal highs’. What are the concerns here? (mp3)
Clip 17. For 15 years, the EMCDDA has been collating information and refining the process by which it is gathered. But it’s not involved in policy formation, is it? (mp3)
Clip 18. What are the trends in law enforcement in Europe where drugs are concerned? (mp3)
Clip 19. Countries are often labelled ‘liberal’ or repressive’ on drug law. Is that fair? (mp3)
Clip 20. Where heroin is concerned, is replacing this drug with another substance the main treatment on offer? (mp3)
2009: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2009: clips 21–28
Clip 21. Cocaine is now ‘the stimulant of choice’ in western Europe but treatment for addiction is far from straightforward. What are the difficulties? (mp3)
Clip 22. What is the role of the internet in treatment? (mp3)
Clip 23. What, other than treatment, is done to reduce the impact of drugs on individual and public health? (mp3)
Clip 24. How to respond to rapid changes in the market for new synthetic drugs? (mp3)
Clip 25. What are the main points of the EU drugs action plan for 2009 to 2012? (mp3)
Clip 26. Where the quality of treatment is concerned, what is being done to monitor this? (mp3)
Clip 27. What other trends can we expect to see? (mp3)
Clip 28. With what other non-national institutions does the EMCDDA work? (mp3)
2009: Press conference: launch of the Annual report 2009 (European Parliament, 5.11.2009)
Download audio clip (English version including interpretations, mp3)
download audio clip (direct feed — no interpretation, mp3)
2008: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2008: clips 1–10
Clip 1. What is the EMCDDA, what is its mission and how is it changing? (mp3)
Clip 2. How does the Annual Report fit into that? (mp3)
Clip 3. You state in your opening Commentary to this year’s Report that 2008 has been important for reflection and policy formation. Why? (mp3)
Clip 4. The Report notes a growing European consensus in drug policy. In which areas is this most evident? (mp3)
Clip 5. Where is there divergence between member states? Is this a problem? (mp3)
Clip 6. In the field of criminal law, what are the consequences of a growing tendency for European authorities to distinguish between trafficking and possession/use? (mp3)
Clip 7. What developments have there been in the field of drug prevention: successes and failures? (mp3)
Clip 8. Are attitudes to drugs in Europe changing and if so how, for example as regards their classification by the authorities? (mp3)
Clip 9. Cannabis remains by far the most common illicit drug in Europe. Just how common is it among the various age groups? (mp3)
Clip 10. The Report notes that trends with regular or intensive users may be quite different, while one striking development is the emergence of domestic cannabis production. What the concerns in this area? (mp3)
2008: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2008: clips 11–20
Clip 11. In past years there was optimism that heroin use had peaked. Was that premature? (mp3)
Clip 12. Do most heroin users still inject the drug and what are the health implications? (mp3)
Clip 13. Cocaine is one drug with huge national variations in use. Are there overall trends and what are the patterns of use among different groups? (mp3)
Clip 14. What are the health problems related to cocaine use? (mp3)
Clip 15. The Report states that Europe’s market for illicit stimulants is effectively divided into two. In what way and what implications does this have for policy? (mp3)
Clip 16. Use of amphetamines and ecstasy seems steady or declining, and there’s been no Europe-wide methamphetamine epidemic. Are synthetic drugs no major worry? (mp3)
Clip 17. Are there new synthetic drugs coming up that are of concern? (mp3)
Clip 18. On the treatment front, what are the latest developments? (mp3)
Clip 19. How useful are Europe-wide statistics for drug use when the situation varies so? (mp3)
Clip 20. Where monitoring use and compiling statistics are concerned, what are the challenges and how can they be met? What new methods are being developed? (mp3)
2008: Comments of the EMCDDA Director on the launch of the Annual report 2008: clips 21–30
Clip 21. What about the internet? Is it a boost to traffickers or a positive tool for monitoring and drug prevention? (mp3)
Clip 22. The Selected Issue this year, subject to more detailed analysis, is ‘Drugs and vulnerable young people’. What prompted this choice? Is there consensus on their profile? (mp3)
Clip 23. What kind of provision in prevention and treatment is there for such youngsters? (mp3)
Clip 24. What lessons did the EMCDDA draw from its review of policies/projects in this field? (mp3)
Clip 25. Does the growing consensus on the policy front in Europe apply beyond it, and can Europe contribute to forming a broader consensus? (mp3)
Clip 26a. Where production of major drugs outside Europe and their trafficking is concerned, what are current patterns and what is being done to combat them? Cannabis (mp3)
Clip 26b. Where production of major drugs outside Europe and their trafficking is concerned, what are current patterns and what is being done to combat them? Cocaine (mp3)
Clip 26c. Where production of major drugs outside Europe and their trafficking is concerned, what are current patterns and what is being done to combat them? Heroin (mp3)
Clip 27. How do the authorities combat this challenge and what progress are they making? (mp3) What results has the Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N) had in its first year of operations? (mp3)
Clip 28. Going back to the EU’s action plan for 2005–8 and its evaluation this year, what conclusions have emerged, and what changes are planned for the next plan? (mp3)
Clip 29. What are the priorities for the EMCDDA in the medium and long term? (mp3)
Clip 30. Is the EMCDDA good value for European taxpayers? (mp3)
