INTRODUCTIONCLASSIFICATION OF DRUGSin alphabetical order
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statistics >>> european statistics >>> prefaceState of the drugs problem in the EU
With this 2000 Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in the European Union, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) presents to the EU and its Member States an overview of the drug phenomenon in Europe at the start of the new millennium. Accurate information is essential for effective action, and by fulfilling the information needs of decision-makers at all levels, the EMCDDA is contributing significantly to the development of drug policy in Europe.
The annual report — prepared in close collaboration with the national and European Commission focal points of the Reitox network and other key partners — is the Centre’s main information vehicle, and the data and analysis it contains are key for planning and implement-ing adequate measures to counter the drug problem at both national and EU level.
As data-collection and data-comparison methods remain variable throughout Europe, the EMCDDA is developing specific instruments to facilitate the analysis of drug-related legislation, policies and strategies in all Member States. To this end, five harmonised epidemiological indicators of drug use — surveys of the general population, estimates of the prevalence of drug use, demand for treat-ment, drug related deaths and drug-related infectious diseases — are being implemented. These indicators not only provide vital information on key aspects of the drug phenomenon, but also have a broader strategic value. The importance of evaluating the impact of policy on the drug problem is increasingly recognised, and it is on the basis of these five indicators that future such assessments will be made.
At its Helsinki meeting in December 1999, the European Council formally adopted the European Union Drugs Strategy (2000–04). This document sets six objectives to be achieved by the end of that period:
• to reduce significantly the prevalence of drug use and of new users under the age of 18; • to reduce significantly the incidence of negative health consequences associated with drug use and drug-related deaths; • to increase substantially the number of successfully treated addicts; • to reduce substantially the availability of illicit drugs; • to reduce substantially drug-related crime; and • to reduce substantially money laundering and the illicit traffic in precursor chemicals.
The EMCDDA, in close collaboration with the European Commission and the EU Member States, is now putting in place the necessary instruments and methodologies to implement, monitor and evaluate the strategy over the next five years.
In line with the EU’s drug-information policy, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) is making a concerted effort — through its January 2000 ‘Lisbon consensus document’ which endorses seven harmonised key indicators — to promote at international level an approach to data collection to complement that pursued at EU level by the EMCDDA.
The importance of the leading-edge role the EMCDDA plays at EU level in obtaining reliable and comparable drug information was reflected at international level by the Declaration of policy and fundamental principles of the reduction of demand for drugs, adopted in the frame-work of the United Nations General Assembly on Drugs in June 1998. This recognition, and the growing emphasis placed on evaluating demand-reduction activities as the basis for any successful national or international drug strategy, can only be seen as major steps forward in this field. I hope that you will find this report a step in that direction too.
Georges Estievenart Executive Director |