PRESS CONFERENCE
10 NOVEMBER 2010 LISBON
EMCDDA ANNUAL REPORT 2010
SPEAKING NOTE
Version 2
Scene Setter
The EMCDDA's 2010 Annual Report will be launched in Lisbon on 10 November 2010 in the presence of specialist journalists. On 9 November 2010, Wolfgang Goetz will present the Annual Report to the Justice and Home Affairs Council and on 15 November to the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament.
The EMCDDA's estimates on the drugs situation provide an important contribution to the Commission's annual progress review of the EU Drugs Action Plan2009-2012. The latest Commission review was adopted on 5 November 2010.
SPEAKING POINTS (max. 5 minutes)
- The European Commission welcomes the EMCDDA's annual report which provides policy-makers with valuable insights into the European drugs problem.
- Drugs are a complex phenomenon, which requires comprehensive solutions. A robust monitoring and analysis system, as provided by the EMCDDA, is crucial for developing the EU's response to this problem.
- The EU Member States tackle illegal drugs comprehensively through a multi-annual strategy. The current one runs until 2012. Yesterday the Commission presented its first report on progress made to meet the objectives of the Action Plan 2009-2012 that seeks to implement this strategy.
- This reportshows that overall the EU made progress in reducing the harms caused by drugs use and in curbing drugs trafficking over the past 18 months, for example:
- Member States have stepped up efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking, by setting up regional structuresto target smuggling across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. They have also established two platforms to share intelligence and coordinate capacity building in West Africa, which is a major transit region for cocaine trafficked to Europe.
- The European Pact on drugs, which was endorsed in June by the EU Member States, provides a major opportunity to interconnect law enforcement structures that target the trafficking of drugs.
- The Commission has given amajor boost to evidence-based drugs policies, by developinga strategy to strengthen EU cooperation on drug-related research. This will help proposeadequate, soundresponses to reduce the adverse health and social impacts of drugs in our societies.
- However, major challenges lie ahead, because drug use and trafficking patterns are changing fast and are constantly testing our control systems.
- The frequent emergence of new psychoactive substances, whose healthrisks are unknown, poses significant challenges. New substances are increasingly appealing both to consumers, as they are marketed as legal alternatives to illicit drugs (‘legal highs’), and to producers, since most of them are easily manufactured and distributed, often over the internet.
- The Commission is currently assessing the implementation of the Council Decision 2005/387/JHA on new psychoactive substances and might make legislative proposals to revise it, to enable it better to tackle new drugs. On the basis of this Decision, the Commission proposed to the Council on 20 October, to ban mephedrone, a dangerous, ecstasy-like drug, following a risk assessment by the EMCDDA's Scientific Committee.
- The combined use of psychoactive substances (poly-drug use) has become a worrying trend. The use of multiple drugs leads to increased risks. Tackling it requires complex policy responses.
- The distinct rise in the number ofdrug-induced deaths in the EU requires Member States to place greater emphasis on prevention. Improving drug-related health monitoring and health-care provision in prisons is one of the steps that need to be taken to reduce the number of fatalities.
- The Commission is concerned that the economic crisis could have an impact on the drugs situation in the EU. Economic hardship and feelings of insecurity could lead some individuals to seek relief in drugs and others to make a living through the selling of illicit drugs. At the same time, budgetary constraints might prompt Member States to scale down prevention or treatment services.
- We are urging governments not to reduce budgets for drug-related services. This would have a negative impact on those that need therapy and the security of EU citizens.
- Governments and NGOs should maximise use of the Commission's funding programmes to support cross-border cooperation in the fields of drug prevention and treatment and to tackle transnational drugs-related crime and trafficking.
- Next year the Commission will launch an external evaluation of the EU Drugs Strategy and its Action Plans. This will be the most comprehensive assessment of EU drugs policy to date. Its results will shed light on policy options that will be developed in the future.
Roadmap (next steps)
The Commission will present in the first quarter of 2011 its assessment of the implementation of Council Decision 2005/387/JHA on new psychoactive substances. Depending on the conclusions of this assessment, it might make legislative proposals to revise this instrument.
The Commission will launch next year an external evaluation of the EU Drugs Strategy and its implementing Action Plans. The evaluationwill shed light on policy options to be developed in a new Drugs Strategy.
Contact point: Caroline Hager DG JLS/C.4.94092
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