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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Drugs Strategy (COM(2025) 743 final) – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Action Plan against drug trafficking (COM(2025) 744 final)

EESC 2026/00238

OJ C, C/2026/3555, 22.7.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3555/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3555/oj

Date of document:: 29/04/2026; Date of vote
Date of vote:: 29/04/2026
Date lodged:: 24/02/2026

Author:: European Economic and Social Committee
Responsible body:: Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, EESC_SOC
Rapporteur:: Diego DUTTO
Form:: Opinion
Internal reference:: AVIS-SECTION 2026/0238 FIN, SOC/857
Session:: 605

Treaty:

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Legal basis:

12016E304

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Earlier related instruments:

52025DC0743 ESC Opinion
52025DC0744 ESC Opinion

EUROVOC descriptor:

Subject matter:

Directory code:

15.30.00.00 Environment, consumers and health protection / Health protection
19.30.00.00 Area of freedom, security and justice / Police and judicial cooperation in criminal and customs matters

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Official Journal
of the European Union

C series

C/2026/3555

22.7.2026

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Drugs Strategy

(COM(2025) 743 final)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Action Plan against drug trafficking

(COM(2025) 744 final)

(C/2026/3555)

Rapporteur:

Diego DUTTO

Advisor	Sabrina MOLINARO (to the Group III rapporteur)
Referral	European Commission, 24.2.2026
Legal basis	Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Section responsible	Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship
Adopted in section	14.4.2026
Adopted at plenary session	29.4.2026
Plenary session No	605
Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions)	193/0/1

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1. Proactive monitoring and standardisation

1.1.1.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) stresses that the effectiveness of the EU strategy will depend on its ability to anticipate trends. It recommends that the Commission go beyond reactive indicators (drug seizures and deaths), and provide for structural, mandatory support for standardised monitoring systems. An example here is the ESPAD model for tracking trends among young people (the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) already adopted by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). Only through regular and comparable surveys can changes in consumption patterns be detected early, before they become social emergencies.

1.2. Tackling off-label consumption of legal substances

1.2.1.

The Committee notes with concern that the strategy is somewhat skewed towards focusing on traditional illegal substances. The latest ESPAD data show that young people are moving towards the off-label use of legal drugs (sedatives and tranquillisers). The EESC recommends introducing EU guidelines for monitoring the prescribing of drugs, and launching specific awareness campaigns on the risk of becoming addicted to legal psychoactive drugs.

1.3. Prevention of an opioid crisis and broader regulatory oversight

1.3.1.

Taking note of the US experience, the EESC recommends rigorous monitoring of the prevalence of opioid painkillers. Efforts must be made to prevent a section of society – that does not appear to be at risk – from becoming addicted to these substances, obtained through legal channels. This could create a pool of consumers that organised crime could supply with illicit products in the future. The Committee calls for closer cooperation here between the EUDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

1.4. Roll-out of ‘early intervention’ protocols

1.4.1.

The EESC considers that the references to immediate intervention strategies are insufficient. EU protocols on early intervention should be developed to support social and health services in detecting new users at an early stage of drug use. The scope of this approach should include schools, households and the workplace, and not focus solely on reducing chronic harm.

1.5. Development of social and health key performance indicators (KPIs)

1.5.1.

While the Action Plan against drug trafficking (COM(2025) 744) sets clear objectives for police forces, the health strand of the strategy appears to lack rigorous measurement tools. While the EESC takes note of the EUDA’s efforts to scale up its Policy Evaluation Toolkit, it believes that monitoring should move beyond tracking procedural progress toward measuring real-world impact. The EESC recommends establishing specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of the prevention policies, whereby success would be measured not only in terms of drug seizures, but also in relation to reductions in new addictions and the effectiveness of reintegration pathways. These indicators and protocols should be developed as enabling tools to support social and health services in the early detection of distress and emerging consumption patterns, while fully respecting Member States’ competences in social and health-related prevention policies.

1.6. Resilience of infrastructure and infiltration of the legal economy

1.6.1.

While the Committee welcomes the attention given to the resilience of ports in the action plan, it warns that organised crime is already diversifying its interests towards the production and trafficking of chemicals and pharmaceutical precursors. It recommends that the public-private partnerships be extended beyond logistical hubs to include the entire chemical and pharmaceutical supply chain in order to prevent infiltration into the legal economic fabric of the EU.

1.7. A holistic approach that gets the balance right between security and health

1.7.1.

The EESC reiterates that the fight against drug trafficking cannot be separated from a robust public health policy. It recommends that the future EU funding plans (2026-2030) maintain an appropriate financial balance between supporting law-enforcement activities and investing in systems for the prevention and monitoring of drug use in society, which is key to protecting Europe’s human capital.

1.8. Lack of community intervention

1.8.1.

The EESC notes that the action plan focuses almost exclusively on securing physical (ports, logistics centres) and digital infrastructure, neglecting the community dimension. It recommends incorporating actions aimed at strengthening the resilience of local communities through education and awareness-raising programmes and exchanges of best practices that create a real collective awareness of the risks and societal harms linked to drug trafficking. Public-private partnerships can further support prevention, capacity-building, research and community outreach efforts by pooling expertise and resources from different sectors. Organised crime cannot be tackled without the active involvement of civil society and of the community networks that operate in the most vulnerable areas.

1.9. Need for guidelines on policies for reducing the proliferation of drug use

1.9.1.

The Committee points out that the action plan does not provide sufficient guidance to the Member States on the public policies needed to reduce the proliferation of drug use. It recommends that the Commission complement the supply-side measures (drug seizures and arrests) with a framework of operational recommendations aimed at promoting uniformity in primary prevention strategies, while fully respecting Member States’ competences. The EU needs to set out clear guidance on how to limit the accessibility of substances, both legal and illegal, by providing models of health and social governance that go beyond the mere management of public order.

1.10.

The EESC welcomes the Commission’s integrated approach presented in the EU Drugs Strategy and in the action plan and appreciates the effort to coordinate security and public health policies. However, the Committee believes that the current strategic framework has structural shortcomings, entailing the risk that the EU’s responses will be behind the curve given the speed of new consumption trends.

1.11.

In short, the EESC’s position is structured around three critical strands.

—

Proper monitoring and ‘predictive’ prevention: the Committee highlights the exclusive use of reactive indicators (drug seizures and deaths), and calls for proactive early-warning systems to be established on a stable and institutional basis. Specifically, the EESC recommends the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) model, which uses a common methodological protocol and a master questionnaire to collect comparable data on substance use among teenagers. By conducting surveys in classrooms among students who turn 16 during the year of data collection, this model provides a crucial early-warning system. New drug-use patterns, including the non-medical use of prescription drugs, must be detected quickly if effective and timely policies are to be developed.

—

The right balance between security measures and community intervention: while endorsing the measures against drug trafficking in major logistics hubs (ports and customs), the EESC points to a lack of strategies for community intervention. Without creating societal awareness of the risks and harm involved in local areas, and without clear guidelines for Member States on policies to reduce drug proliferation, enforcement action will not go far enough.

—

New health threats and KPIs: the Committee sounds the alarm about the potential for an opioid crisis arising from pharmaceutical prescribing – along the lines of what happened in the US – which could soon provide new territory to be exploited by organised crime. It therefore calls for the development of rigorous social and health KPIs (in full respect of Member State competences) that make it possible to assess the effectiveness of the policies not only in terms of the quantities of drugs seized, but also on the basis of the extent to which Europe’s human and social capital is properly protected.

1.12.

In conclusion, the EESC recommends ensuring that investments are also directed towards early intervention, education, awareness-raising and stronger civil society involvement, in order to build community resilience so that the fight against drugs is not limited to public order management but becomes a genuine social and health protection policy.

2. General comments

2.1.

The EESC welcomes the coordination of security and health proposed by the Commission in this strategy. However, it points out that the strategy needs to be more closely aligned with new emerging consumption patterns, with the focus shifted from solely tackling traditional illicit substances to preventing the misuse of legal psychoactive drugs. It recommends greater investment in early intervention and monitoring based on established scientific standards.

2.1.1. Stepping up epidemiological monitoring (COM 743 – section on evidence-based monitoring)

—	Proposal: add to the text a requirement for standardised surveys of school pupils to be carried out systematically.

—

Amendment requested: the Commission should go beyond bolstering the EUDA’s capacity for biological data (wastewater) analysis and also establish a memorandum of understanding with the Member States on carrying out systematic and comparable surveys based on the ESPAD model. The aim of this proposal is to transform the monitoring of young people’s behaviour into an early warning indicator for the purposes of health policy planning.

2.1.2. Broadening the scope of the action on substances (COM 743 – section on targeted prevention)

—	Proposal: include an explicit focus on the off-label use of legal drugs.

—

Amendment requested: the risk arising from the non-medical use of sedatives, tranquillisers and opioid painkillers by minors should be explicitly mentioned in the text. The strategy should include measures to monitor the pharmaceutical distribution chain, fostering public-private partnerships to avoid additional administrative burdens for companies. To ensure effectiveness, a strong link must be established with DG SANTE and relevant health agencies to coordinate actions in this area. Furthermore, prevention campaigns should be developed to improve the understanding of what constitutes improper use of legally sold substances, raising awareness of the harm involved and preventing these drugs from being diverted to the illicit market.

2.1.3. Incorporation of the community dimension (COM 744 – preventing crime)

—	Proposal: add a specific action on community intervention and societal resilience.

—

Amendment requested: alongside the measures to protect ports and infrastructure (Action 7), a specific action for the involvement of civil society and the local level should be included. The action plan must promote ‘community pacts’ that raise public awareness of the societal and security risks that drug trafficking entails. These pacts would transform passive residents of vulnerable areas into active participants in urban resilience.

2.1.4. Establishment of social performance indicators (COM 743 and 744 – evaluation section)

—	Proposal: balance the key performance indicators (KPIs) on security with health and social impact KPIs.

—

Amendment requested: the Commission should draw up a list of social KPIs, in full respect of Member State competences. These should not be limited to the number of drug seizures or arrests, but also include:

—	indicators on reduction of the prevalence of off-label use of psychotropic drugs among 15-16-year-olds;

—	indicators on the average interval between a person beginning to consume the drugs and being linked up with services (early intervention); and

—	indicators on the effectiveness of community-based prevention programmes.

2.1.5. Combating the diversion of precursors and drugs (COM 744 – section on synthetic drugs)

—

Proposal: promote a coordinated approach to strengthen controls relating to the prescribing of drugs and their legal distribution. This should be achieved through enhanced cooperation between national health authorities and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to better identify and monitor the non-medical use of these substances. Recognising that regulations and consumption patterns are not homogenous across Europe, the EU should facilitate the exchange of best practices to address these diverse national contexts while ensuring that access for legitimate health reasons remains unhindered.

—

Amendment requested: include a reference to closer cooperation between law enforcement authorities and drug regulators (EMA and national agencies). Legal opioid flows need to be monitored to prevent a situation whereby excessive pharmaceutical availability provides organised crime with a base of future users, as was the case in the North American opioid crisis.

2.1.6. Call for EU guidelines on reducing demand (COM 743 – conclusion)

—	Proposal: call for a commitment from the Commission to provide clear guidance on national policies.

—

Amendment requested: the Commission needs to take on a stronger coordinating role by providing operational guidance to the Member States on how to limit the proliferation of drug use, in full respect of their competences. It is not enough to describe the problem; the EU should promote best practices and evidence-based guidelines aimed at achieving consistent levels of effectiveness across the Member States.

2.2.

The European Commission’s initiative – this opinion analyses the package of measures adopted by the European Commission on 4 December 2025, consisting of the EU Drugs Strategy (COM(2025) 743 final) and the related EU Action Plan against drug trafficking (COM(2025) 744 final). These documents set out the EU’s political and operational framework for the period 2026-2030, and aim to respond to developments in an increasingly violent criminal market and to the emergence of new threats to public health.

2.3.

Objectives of the strategy and action plan – the strategy (COM 743) aims to incorporate the security policies into the health policies, promoting a whole-of-society approach that simultaneously addresses supply and demand reduction. In parallel, the action plan (COM 744) focuses on the operational fight against criminal networks, with 19 priority actions including enhancing the resilience of logistical hubs (ports and customs), dismantling synthetic drug production networks and tackling the recruitment of minors by organised crime.

2.4.

The role of the EESC and the need for a paradigm shift – as an advisory body, the EESC welcomes the efforts to ensure greater coordination between the Member States and the European agencies (EUDA, Europol, EMA). However, the Committee considers that the EU’s strategic framework not only needs to tackle the traditional dynamics of drug trafficking, but should also urgently adapt to new consumption patterns. As recent surveys of young people have shown, the challenge facing the EU is shifting towards the misuse of legal and pharmaceutical substances. This development means that there needs to be an emphasis on bolstering early-stage preventative measures and the resilience of local communities.

Brussels, 29 April 2026.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Séamus BOLAND

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3555/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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