EU Drugs Strategy

Key points

The 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;

• notes with concern that the strategy is somewhat skewed towards focusing on traditional illegal substances. Young people are moving towards the off-label use of legal drugs. The EESC therefore 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;

• 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;

• notes that 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;

• 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;

• reiterates that the fight against drug trafficking cannot be separated from a robust public health policy;

• notes that the action plan focuses almost exclusively on securing physical (ports, logistics centres) and digital infrastructure, neglecting the community dimension;

• 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.