m?*î COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
C0M(94) 234 final 
Brussels, 23.06.1994 
Communication from the Commission to 
the Council and the European 
Parliament on a European Union 
action plan to combat drugs 
(1995 - 1999) 
r^*--
NOTE TO THE COUNCIL 
In transmitting the enclosed communication on drugs to the Council and the 
Parliament, the Commission draws the Council's particular attention to the complex 
and horizontal nature of the drugs issue. The need to address in parallel the separate 
but closely related aspects of demand reduction, international cooperation and 
trafficking not only reflects the "three-pillar" structure of the Treaty on European Union, 
but also highlights the importance of a global and balanced approach and the need 
for effective coordination, both internally and externally, of the many and various 
dimensions of the problem. In this respect the Council and COREPER will have a key 
role to play to ensure this global and coherent approach. 
It is indeed the entry into force of the TEU which provides the principal justification for 
the Union to look again at the existing European Plan against Drugs which was 
approved by the European Council in Edinburgh (1992) and which revised and 
updated the earlier European Plan approved by the European Council in Rome (1990). 
The substance of those earlier plans remain valid. The TEU has, however, introduced 
a new level of political commitment by the Member States of the Union, together with 
a new institutional framework bringing all aspects under the aegis of the Council and 
its structures. This imposes - and public and Parliamentary opinion will expect - a 
reinforced effort to put these new possibilities to early and effective use to implement 
both what remains to be done arising from the existing Plan and those new elements 
contained in the present Communication, in accordance both with the division of tasks 
as set out in the Treaty and the equally important principle of subsidiarity. The 
responsibility of the Council for these general and institutional aspects is clear, and 
points to a need for its sustained monitoring of the implementation of this plan. 
On the external side also, the Council needs to follow closely the coherence of the 
Union's action in the many international fora in which drugs issues are treated, thus 
ensuring that full use is made both of the traditional Community instruments, in the 
fields of trade, development and other economic cooperation policies, and of the 
possibilities opened up by the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the relevant 
provisions of Title VI of the TEU. This means not only ensuring that the drugs 
dimension finds its place in the Union's bilateral relations with the relevant third 
countries, and that all the available multilateral trade and development instruments be 
fully exploited, but also that the Union, where appropriate, undertakes joint action and 
coordinates its work and defines common positions in key international fora. These 
international fora include notably the United Nations, in particular the Vienna-based 
UNDCP and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Chemical Action Task Force 
and the Financial Action Task Force created under the auspices of the G7 and the 
Council of Europe's Pompidou Group. 
Finally, there is an inevitable link between any effective drugs plan and the financial 
and human resources committed to it. The present economic and budgetary climate 
may make this a difficult moment to envisage a significant additional effort as far as 
such resources are concerned; but it also places an enhanced responsibility on all the 
institutions of the Union to ensure the maximum exploitation, coherence and synergy 
of the possibilities which do exist, in keeping with the solemn commitment into which 
the TEU has entered to cooperative action against the plague of drugs. 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
[The purpose of this document is to outline the principal themes of the Commission's 
Communication to the Council and European Parliament on a European Union Action Plan to 
Combat Drugs.] 
INTRODUCTION 
Drug addiction and drug trafficking continue to constitute a major threat to the citizens of 
Europe. That threat demands a response at all levels, from local to Union, if the strategies 
which the Union and its Member States adopt are to have a real impact on this scourge and 
contribute to the broader international effort to combat drugs. 
The need for cooperation at the level of the Union has long been recognised. It is demonstrated 
by the prominent place which drugs has occupied on the European political agenda for many 
years now. It is equally demonstrated by the adoption of the first European Plan to Combat 
Drugs by the European Council in Rome in 1990 and the adoption of a revised and updated 
version of that Plan by the European Council in Edinburgh in 1992. Much has already been 
achieved at the level of the Community and through inter-governmental co-operation in 
translating key elements of those plans into measures capable of supporting practical co­
operation. 
THE TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION 
The desire to build on what has already been achieved and promote - wider and deeper 
cooperation at the level of the Union finds expression in the Treaty on European Union, where 
the fight against drugs and drug dependence is specifically mentioned in the context of the 
provisions it has introduced governing public health and co-operation in fields of justice and 
home affairs. 
The TEU opens up important new possibilities to consolidate existing Community achievements 
and promote the further development of Union-wide strategies. That potential has already been 
recognised by the European Council which has stressed the need for a comprehensive anti-drugs 
strategy. This Communication responds to that need by reviewing the results of what has been 
achieved at Community level and examining how actions forseen in the first European Plans can 
now be put into practice and pursued more effectively in the new framework created by the TEU. 
The Communication is expressed therefore in terms of a European Union Action Plan to Combat 
Drugs and can provide a new framework for cooperation capable of taking full advantage of the 
possibilities opened up by the TEU. 
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO DRUGS 
Effective action to combat drugs requires a comprehensive and integrated response to the drugs 
phenomenon. The new Union Action Plan proposed in the Communication, in accordance with 
established international practice and the framework provided by the earlier European Plans, 
addresses the three key elements of such any such integrated response. They are : 
Action on Demand Reduction; 
Action to Combat Illicit Trafficking; and 
Action at the International Level. 
Equally important for the purpose of an integrated response to the drugs phenomenon is ensuring 
coherence of the actions to be pursued at each level and coordination at national and Union level. 
The Communication examines how that necessary coordination and coherence might be achieved. 
ACTION ON DEMAND REDUCTION 
Article 129 of the Treaty on European Union provides a new basis for Community action for 
the purposes of the health aspects of the drug problem. The Commission has already identified 
drug dependence as a priority area for Community public health action in its Communication of 
November 1993 on the framework for action in the field of public health. 
The Commission will therefore be submitting, under Article 129, to the Council and Parliament 
a further Communication and a proposal for a Decision on a First Programme of Community 
Action in the Field of Drug Dependence. That proposal represents both one element of this 
Action Plan and a follow up to the Commission's November 1993 Communication. 
The Action Plan sets out the main elements of the proposed programme. These deal with : 
Prevention Measures - information activities directed at target groups, health education, 
vocational training programmes, and continuation of work in the area of screening and 
surveillance; 
Measures to promote Social and Occupational Reintegration support for reintegration 
initiatives for drug addicts, 
II 
Specific measures - activities targeted at high risk groups in specific settings 
ACTION TO COMBAT ILLICIT TRAFFICKING 
Action for the purpose of tackling the problem of trafficking in drugs will require action both at 
the level of the Community and in the context of the implementation of the provisions of Title 
VI of the TEU on Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs. 
Much has already been achieved within the Community framework in the area of measures to 
prevent the diversion of precursors and psychotropic substances for the purposes of the illicit 
manufacture of drugs by way of putting the necessary legislative instruments in place. That is 
equally the case in the area of money laundering where a Directive has been adopted on the 
prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering. 
Action at the level of the Community will therefore be directed to : 
implementation of existing legislative instruments - development of networks for the rapid 
exchange of information, training etc. 
promoting co-operation with third countries through adoption of the Community model 
and other relevant international agreements negotiation of specific agreements, 
participation in relevant international initiatives, provision of technical assistance in the 
development of legislation and and administrative structures, exchange of information etc., 
keeping practical operation of those measures under review. 
Title VI of the TEU also creates new possibilities for action at Union level in areas traditionally 
the preserve of inter-governmental cooperation. It represents a Treaty based commitment to 
cooperate on matters such as police, customs , and judicial cooperation in the criminal field as 
matters of common interest for the Member States of the Union and for which they have 
exclusive right of initiative. It also creates the possibility of developing new lines of action by 
designating combatting drug addiction, insofar as it is not covered by other provisions of the 
Title or Community instruments, as a matter of common interest. Cooperation on these matters 
is now therefore integrated into a single institutional framework. 
Ill 
The Communication stresses the importance of the Member States using these possibilities and 
taking forward work on the Action Plan on Drugs, Europol and Money Laundering and the 
Priority Work Programme for 1994 adopted by the Council of Justice and Home Affairs 
Ministers in November 1993. Those measures include : 
EUROPOL - implementation of the Ministerial Agreement on the Europol Drugs Unit and 
completion of the work on the drafting of the Convention to enable the establishment of 
Europol: 
Development of a strategy for combating illicit trafficking in drugs including tighter 
controls at the Community's external frontiers ; 
Implementation of measures to promote police co-operation. 
Looking beyond those programmes, the Communication suggests that attention also needs to 
be given to other measures to give expression to priorities previously identified by the European 
Council for this field. 
The Commission shares with the Member States the right of initiative for the purpose of Article 
K.1.4) which covers measures to combat drug addiction not dealt with by other aspects of Title 
VI or areas of Community competence. The Communication therefore includes a number of 
suggestions as to how that provision might be used to complement existing activities. These 
include: 
interdisciplinary exchanges between bodies and professionaL organisations responsible for 
reducing drug demand and drug supply: 
creation of a European muti-city exchange and co-operation network: 
co-operation on the links between drugs and crime. 
ACTION AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL 
Action at the level of the Union will be complemented by action at the international level. That 
will involve using Community instruments and, arising from the entry into force of the Treaty 
on European Union, the new possibilities created by Common Foreign and Security Policy. 
Community action will consolidate what has already been achieved through Community 
participation in the broader international fight against drugs and through the use of dedicated 
Community instruments in that fight. 
IV 
Action at the level of the Community will therefore involve: 
multilateral co-operation through continued involvement in global-level efforts to tackle 
drugs-related problems - participation in the United Nations Drug Control Programme, 
the Council of Europe Pompidou Group etc. in areas related to Community competence; 
bilateral cooperation directed to reinforcing national and regional strategies to fight drugs 
in co-operation with specified countries or regions which pose a particular risk because 
of their proximity to the Union ; 
using the possibilities which anti-drugs clauses in the external agreements of the 
Community with third countries provide for promoting cooperation: 
making co-operation in the fight against drugs a priority in terms of trade and 
development policy - through use of the possibibities created by such instruments as the 
Generalised System of Preferences and the Lome Convention. 
Common Foreign and Security Policy offers a new dimension allowing the full weight of the 
Union's political and diplomatic relations to be added to the commercial and development co­
operation mechanisms already in place. The European Council has identified the fight against 
trafficking in illicit drugs as an area suitable for common action under CFSP and has identified 
the MAGHREB and the Middle East as priority regions in that context. 
The Communication therefore suggests that action in the area of CFSP might focus on the 
adoption of common positions regard to ensuring strengthened cooperation in international fora 
on matters not coming within Community competence and joint actions to ensure support for 
Community efforts to help third countries to engage fully in the fight against drugs. 
COORDINATION 
A comprehensive or integrated response to combating drugs will require ongoing efforts to ensure 
co-ordination both at institutional level and in relation to the certain types of actions to be 
pursued where those actions are common to more than one sector. 
The Communication .accordingly stresses the importance of maintaining and enhancing 
coordination at Member State and Union level. It addresses the wider aspects of that issue in 
terms of three priority subjects: 
Coordination within and between the Member States - where national coordinators and 
COREPER will all have important roles to play, 
V 
(2) 
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction - which will be able to 
contribute to the political decision making process through the important information and 
analysis role it will perform in conjunction with its associated network of national centres 
(REITOX), 
Multi-disciplinary issues - information, research, training are identified as priority issues 
and possibilities for improving coherence in their treatment discussed. 
CONCLUSION 
The Commission believes that the European Union Action Plan to Combat Drugs set out in the 
Communication can provide a framework for the Union's future approach to the issue of drugs 
in the period up to 1999. That framework seeks to make full use of the new possibilities created 
by the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union in providing the comprehensive anti­
drugs strategy which the European Council has already identified as being necessary. Translating 
that framework into practical cooperation and action will represent the next step and will require 
a committed effort on the part of each of the Union's institutions. 
VI 
INTEGRATED APPROACH AND GENERAL 
DIRECTIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION'S 
ACTION TO COMBAT DRUGS 
(1995 - 1999) 
CONTENTS 
I THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS 3 
The fight against drugs, a global theme 3 
The Treaty on European Union 3 
A new integrated plan for the Union (1995-1999) 4 
Basic elements of the new Action Plan 5 
II THE EUROPEAN UNION INTERGRATED ACTION PLAN (1995-
99) . 6 
An integrated drugs approach 6 
A. Action on demand reduction 7 
B. Action on reduction of illicit trafficking 
in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances 10 
C. Action at international level 20 
D. Coordination 23 
E. Budgetary implications 31 
III. CONCLUSIONS . 33 
Annex 1 : The achievements of the Community and the Member States . . 35 
Annex 2 : The Treaty on European Union and its consequences 
as regards drugs strategy 44 
Annex 3 : The Drugs Budgets 46 
Annex 4 : Basic statistics . . 49 
I. THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST 
DRUGS 
The fight against drugs, a global theme 
1 Since the mid-1980s the international community has been increasingly aware of 
the global nature of the drugs phenomenon, and has come to realise that the 
various aspects of the problem, i.e. production, trafficking and consumption, are 
closely interlinked. This has led to an increasing recognition of the need to 
coordinate and integrate the response to these aspects, both nationally and 
internationally, and greater emphasis being placed on prevention. 
2 At worldwide level, the United Nations reflected this trend through the creation 
in 1990 of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), 
pooling within a single institutional framework the efforts conducted by the 
international community in this field. In substance, this led to the drafting and 
adoption by the United Nations of programmes such as the Comprehensive 
Multidisciplinary Outline (1987) and the Global Programme of Action (1990), 
designed to increase the impact of the international fight against drugs, based on 
the international instruments already adopted (United Nations Conventions of 
1961, 1971 and 1988). 
3 The trend is also reflected at the level of and within the European Union. The 
increasing attention Member States have given to drafting and implementing 
national drug control policies and strategies has in turn required closer 
coordination between the various actors at national level. The trend was 
consolidated at Community level with the creation in 1989 of the European 
Committee to Combat Drugs (CELAD), a forum which brought together senior 
officials from each of the Member States and from the Commission, with the task 
of coordinating drug control policies. CELAD's work bore fruit in December 1990 
with the adoption by the Rome European Council of the first European Plan to 
Combat Drugs, followed in December 1992 by the adoption of a revised and 
updated version by the Edinburgh European Council. CELAD's work also led to 
the adoption by the Council of the proposal for a Regulation for the creation of 
the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. These political 
and institutional developments are described more fully in Annex 1 which also 
reviews the achievements of the Community and its Member States in translating 
the European Plans into measures for practical cooperation. 
The Treaty on European Union 
4 The Union's commitment, as evidenced by these developments, to a policy of 
structured and enhanced cooperation in the fight against drugs, has also found 
concrete expression in the Treaty on European Union, which has created 
significant new opportunities for implementing effective integrated strategies. The 
fight against drugs and drug addiction is specifically mentioned in the Treaty's 
new provisions concerning public health (Title II, Article 129) and cooperation in 
the fields of justice and home affairs (Title VI). Moreover, the fight against drug 
trafficking has already been identified by the European Council as a potential 
priority area for action under the common foreign and security policy (Tide V). 
These new provisions fill an important gap, because despite the Member States' 
firm political commitment to developing greater cooperation in the area of drug 
control, neither the Treaty of Rome nor the Single European Act contained any 
explicit reference to drugs. Annex 2 sets out the new legal framework created by 
the Treaty on European Union. 
5 The fact that the global drugs problem and its dangerous emanations in Europe 
have continued to threaten society as a whole in increasingly disturbing ways 
means that the Union has no choice but to employ these new instruments, and to 
do so as effectively and as actively as possible. In the Declaration which it 
adopted at its meeting of 29 October 1993 to mark the entry into force of the 
TEU, the European Council explicitly recognised that the new framework 
provided by the Treaty offered the potential for greater effectiveness in the fight 
against drugs. -At its meeting in Brussels on 10-11 December 1993 the European 
Council subsequently reiterated its commitment, by calling for the establishment 
of an integrated strategy for tackling illicit trafficking in drugs, demand reduction, 
and action targeted at the producer and transit non-Community countries. 
6 The Commission has also reflected on the implications of the TEU for the fight 
against drugs. Accordingly, and in the context of its preparatory work for the 
creation of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, it 
organised a European Scientific Seminar on Drug Control Policies and Strategies, 
which took place at the European University Institute in Florence between 9 and 
11 December 1993. The seminar brought together a wide range of experts, as well 
as representatives of the Member States, the European Parliament and the 
Commission. The conclusions underlined the importance of an integrated approach 
to the drugs problem and identified ways and means of exploiting all the 
opportunities created by the TEU to ensure such an approach. 
A new integrated plan for the Union (1995-1999) 
The present communication takes these developments as its starting point. It 
reviews the results already achieved at Community level and examines how 
actions of the type identified in the European Plans can be extended and pursued 
more effectively in the new framework provided by the TEU. 
The new integrated Action Plan (1995-1999) will involve a series of initiatives 
which have only now become possible within the new context of the Union and 
will: 
- consolidate Community achievements on the basis of the existing or future 
Community instruments; 
- exploit the new opportunities created by the TEU to put the fight against drugs 
on a more integrated footing, by adopting measures at different levels of action 
(the Union, the Member States, cities and multi-city networks), while respecting 
the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the Treaty. 
Basic elements of the new Action Plan 
9 Article 129 of the TEU provides a new framework for action as regards the health 
aspects of the drugs problem. Since the field covered by the Article is one for 
which the Community has competence, the initiative for instigating action lies 
with the Commission. In a communication being submitted separately to the 
European Parliament and the Council, the Commission will detail the main lines 
of action which the Commission considers should be followed pursuant to this 
Article; these ideas will be accompanied by a detailed programme proposal and 
the legislative text needed for its implementation. 
10 Community instruments to help suppress trafficking have already been put in 
place and mobilised, notably as regards preventing the diversion of precursor 
chemicals and money-laundering. In addition Title VI of the Treaty creates new 
possibilities at two levels. Firsdy, it requires the Member States of the Union to 
cooperate on questions of common interest in judicial, customs and police matters 
(Article K.1.7), 8) and 9); in this context the creation of the future EUROPOL is 
particularly important, its main role, at least initially, being the fight against drug 
trafficking. Secondly, Article K.1.4) of Title VI introduces a new field of 
cooperation and joint actions concerning the combating of drug addiction, in so 
far as this is not covered by the above-mentioned cooperation provisions (judicial 
cooperation, customs cooperation, police cooperation) or by Community 
instruments, including in particular Article 129. 
11 As regards international cooperation, the Community has for several years now 
endeavoured to introduce the drugs dimension into its trade and development 
cooperation relations with third countries, by including drugs clauses and money-
laundering clauses in its bilateral and/or regional cooperation agreements. It is 
proposed that the Community should continue and intensify this approach, while 
adapting the instruments used to the particular characteristics and needs of the 
individual countries concerned. In this sphere, since traditional Community 
instruments are involved, the initiative for action lies with the Commission. 
Common foreign and security policy offers a new dimension, allowing the full 
weight of the Union's political and diplomatic relations to be added to the 
commercial and development cooperation mechanisms already in place. In this 
sphere the right of initiative is shared between the Commission and the Member 
States, and a coherent, coordinated approach will be needed in order to avoid any 
duplication or contradiction of effort. The Commission's ideas in this regard are 
set out in the communication. 
12 Finally, the communication examines certain horizontal themes (information, 
studies and research, training and exchanges of professionals) common to the 
various sectorial chapters and suggests how their treatment at Union level might 
be better integrated and coordinated. 
II. THE EUROPEAN UNION INTEGRATED ACTION PLAN 
(1995-99) 
An integrated drugs approach 
13 The integrated approach to the drugs phenomenon, as promoted by the United 
Nations since 1987 and adopted and pursued at European level by CEL.AD and 
the European Council since 1990 continues to provide the inspiration for the 
framework within which the Union's new Action Plan has been developed. 
Practical implementation of that approach will not be without difficulty. The 
Treaty on European Union, which provides a legal basis for action in this field, 
offers new opportunities which, without compromising either the principle of 
"globality" (i.e. the integrated approach) or the principle of subsidiarity, can 
ensure that drug initiatives achieve a maximum impact at every stage of the 
"drugs chain". 
14 The fact that the drugs phenomenon is now recognised as multifaceted does not 
mean that everyone must fight on all fronts and at all levels at the same time. The 
multidisciplinary and transnational nature of the problem and the multiplication 
and interaction of players and approaches demand that the existing resources be 
used as effectively as possible. Each action must be planned by reference to the 
overall context and be implemented by the most appropriate player at the most 
appropriate level. Close attention must therefore be paid to the interfaces and to 
coordination of actions. 
15 In preparing the new Action Plan, the Commission was conscious of the principle 
of subsidiarity, enshrined in Article 3b of the TEU, which provides that, in areas 
which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take 
action only if and in so far as the objective of the proposed action cannot be 
sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the 
scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community. The 
general emphasis is therefore on activities which Member States cannot implement 
by themselves, activities which would obviously gain from being carried out 
jointly, activities complementing those carried out nationally, and activities 
leading to the adoption of the best practices possible. Work conducted by means 
of networks, featuring mutually advantageous exchanges of information or 
experience between actors operating at the same level, whether centralised 
(national administrations or anti-drug coordination agencies, research institutions, 
etc.) or decentralised (networks of cities or local initiatives, NGOs, etc.) is another 
example of an operating formula based on the principle of subsidiarity. The 
European Drug Monitoring Centre is based both conceptually and institutionally 
on this formula - a formula which generates added value and reduces duplication 
of effort. 
16 The new Action Plan is also intended to respond to the European Council's 
express request for the development of a comprehensive drugs strategy capable 
of harnessing the new possibilities offered by the Treaty on European Union. That 
has meant taking a fresh look at the measures identified in the first European 
Plans to Combat Drugs, and deciding to what extent and in what way they can be 
put into practice under the Treaty on European Union, and what new types of 
measures and cooperation will be needed to utilise fully the new opportunities 
offered by the Treaty, taking into account the existing or potential field of 
application of the Community competence in these areas. 
17 The structure of the proposed Action Plan therefore draws very largely on the first 
two European plans. The aspects relating to the three key elements of the drugs 
issue - demand reduction, action against drug-trafficking, and international action 
- are therefore addressed in turn as is the issue of coordination. The structure 
followed therefore is : 
A. Action on demand reduction 
B. Action on reduction of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic 
substances 
C. Action at international level 
D. Coordination 
E. Budgetary implications 
A. ACTION ON DEMAND REDUCTION 
1) General considerations 
18 In its communication of 24 November 19931 on the framework for action in the 
field of public health, the Commission identified drug dependence as a priority 
area for Community public health action. It is within this context that the 
Commission is submitting to the Council and the European Parliament a specific 
and separate communication on Community action in the field of drug 
dependence, together with a proposal for a decision concerning the adoption and 
implementation of a multi-annual action programme, under Article 129 of the 
TEU. 
19 The proposal will fit into the general framework of the proposed hew integrated 
Union Action Plan, given that the prevention of drug dependence by way of 
public health measures constitutes one of the elements of the demand reduction 
drive. The proposed measures are a follow-up to the efforts which have been 
made by the Community and its Member States since the early 1980s, and take 
account in particular of the European Parliament resolutions, the resolutions and 
conclusions of the Council and the Health Ministers, and the "demand reduction" 
aspect of the European Plan adopted by the European Council in Rome in 1990 
and subsequently consolidated by the Edinburgh Council in 1992. 
20 The extent of this multi-facetted problem, with its links to major social scourges 
such as social exclusion and unemployment, and the difficulties encountered by 
Member States in combating its severe effects on health, has led to a series of 
initiatives being taken at Community level over the past few years. The wide 
range of initiatives adopted by the Council and the European Parliament 
demonstrates the great importance that they attach to this problem and their view 
COM (93) 559 final, 24.11.1993 
(3) 
that action to tackle it is needed at Community level. The Community is in a 
position to build on this work, basing its action on Article 129, which singles out 
drugs for special mention as a major scourge. 
21 Articles (3)(o) and 129 of the TEU give the Community explicit powers in the 
field of public health, stressing the need to achieve a high level of human health 
protection, and focusing on the prevention of diseases, particularly the major 
health scourges. Drug dependence therefore requires Community action in 
particular by the promotion of research into the causes and transmission of 
diseases, as well as health information and education. In defining and 
implementing its action on the prevention of drug dependence, the Community 
must, in accordance with Article 129, bear in mind its other work in the field of 
public health (e.g. AIDS and health education work) or health protection aspects 
of the Community's other policies. 
22 In accordance with Article 129, the exercise of the Community's powers in 
relation to drug dependence prevention will focus on promoting cooperation 
between the Member States, giving them the necessary support and, in close 
conjunction with the Member States, promoting the coordination of their policies 
and programmes. Having regard to the subsidiarity principle, the exercise of the 
Community's powers should help to establish dynamic practices in a field -
prevention - which is gradually emerging as a top priority in an integrated 
approach to drugs control, at the level of both national policies and international 
strategies. 
23 As regards these international strategies, it is important to note that this new form 
of Community action is intended to "foster cooperation with third countries and 
the competent international organisations" in the sphere of drug dependence. In 
other words, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations 
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and the Council of Europe's 
Pompidou Group are major partners, among others, for the European Union in 
implementing its action programme. 
24 As regards the ways in which the Community's powers should be exercised, 
Article 129 (4) provides for: 
- incentive measures, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and 
regulations of the Member States. Such measures are adopted in 
accordance with the co-decision procedure (Article 189b of the TEU) on 
a proposal from the Commission to the European Parliament and the 
Council, following consultation of the Economic and Social* Committee 
and the Committee of the Regions; 
- recommendations adopted by a qualified majority in the Council on a 
proposal from the Commission. 
25 The multi-annual programme to be proposed by the Commission in the field of 
public health seeks to determine the objectives for Community action and to 
define the priority measures with a view to preventing drug dependence and the 
ensuing problems, and the appropriate evaluation mechanisms. The objectives 
underlying this proposal are based on an analysis of earlier initiatives: prevention 
of the consumption of drugs, up to and including the ultimate objective of total 
cessation of drug consumption, intermediate objectives such as lower mortality 
rates, limits on the risk of infection by the AIDS virus or other infectious agents, 
reduced marginalisation. Pursuing these objectives will involve, at each stage of 
the prevention process, helping to develop the appropriate competences, 
facilitating cooperation between the various players and coordinating the various 
initiatives. 
2) Action programme on drug dependence 
26 The proposed lines of action under this programme will be directed towards 
actions: 
i) to encourage and facilitate activities targeted at high risk groups in specific 
settings; 
ii) to promote the identification, development, testing and use of best 
practices for disseminating information and providing advice to target 
groups; 
iii) to promote initiatives in the field of education and training in order to 
develop drug prevention strategies; 
iv) to support work on early detection and counselling of drug users; 
v) to promote the rehabilitation and the social reintegration of drug addicts. 
27 The programme will take account of the relevant aspects of work to be undertaken 
by the European Monitoring Centre, more particularly in terms of information, 
studies, surveys and research. It also pledges active cooperation with the countries 
of Central and Eastern Europe, the WHO, the Pompidou Group, UNESCO, the 
ILO and the UNDCP2. 
28 It also proposes consultation and participation mechanisms, including the 
institution of an advisory committee made up of representatives of the Member 
States and chaired by the Commission. Information on the implementation of the 
programme could take the form of reports to the European Parliament, the 
Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. 
An independent evaluation is likewise provided for. 
B. ACTION ON REDUCTION OF ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN NARCOTIC 
DRUGS AND PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES 
1) General considerations 
29 The European Union's future work on reducing illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs 
and psychotropic substances will need to be structured by reference to what has 
already been achieved in the Community and intergovernmental frameworks. It 
must equally seek to build on the new possibilities created by the TEU. This new 
Action Programme therefore proposes : 
- the consolidation and development of the acquis communautaire; 
- the implementation of Title VI of the T.E.U., building on the previous work of 
the TREVI, MAG and CELAD groups. 
WHO : World Health Organisation 
ILO : International Labour Organisation. 
10 
2) Consolidation of the acquis communautaire 
a) Completion of the Single Market 
30 The "Schumacher" ruling (amongst others the judgement of 7 March 1988, case 
215/87) of the European Court of Justice, on the basis of Article 30 of the EC 
Treaty, confirmed the right of Community citizens to obtain pharmaceutical 
products for personal use which they needed from pharmacies situated in Member 
States other than these they were resident in. 
It will be necessary to examine the consequences of that decision in the context 
of the completion of the Single Market. The European Plan to Combat Drugs 
adopted by the Edinburgh European Council on 11-12 December 1992, underlined 
the necessity of elaborating measures designed to resolve the problem of people 
who are in legal possession of narcotics and/or psychotropic substances, having 
been prescribed them for medical treatment, and who wish to travel within the 
Community without being exposed to sanctions in other Member States. 
Appropriate operational mechanisms will therefore need to be examined. 
b) Diversion of precursors and psychotropic substances 
31 Directive 92/109/EEC of 14 December 1992 on the manufacture and the placing 
on the market of certain substances used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic 
drugs and psychotropic substances, creates the legislative framework necessary for 
the purpose of intra-Community surveillance. Member States were required to 
transpose that Directive by 1 July 1993, but not all the Member States have yet 
done so. It should be transposed into national law as soon as possible if 
disturbance of licit trade patterns is to be avoided, and the Commission will 
ensure its full implementation. 
The legislative aspects necessary for the purpose of surveillance of international 
trade have been largely dealt with by the adoption of Community provisions 
between 1990 and 19933. These are described in detail in Annex 1. The emphasis 
in the future will be on implementation, evaluation and, where appropriate, 
reorientation. 
32 Implementation : Follow-up work will concentrate on the implementation of these 
measures. Action to be taken in that regard will include : 
the development of the existing electronic mail networks (SCENT/CIS), 
with a view to speeding up the exchange of information in this field, and 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3677/90 laying down measures to be taken to discourage the 
diversion of certain substance to the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic 
substances, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 900/92, and implemented by Commission 
Regulation No 3769/92 of 21 December 1992, amended by Commission Regulation No 2959/93 
of 27 October 1993. 
the provision by the regulatory authorities of specific data banks, such as 
PREXCO (Precursors export control); 
training for individuals and departments with a view to the correct 
implementation of the legislation and in order to meet the demands 
formulated at international level (United Nations, Council of Europe, USA-
DEA, OAS, etc.)4, given that Community legislation is regarded as a 
model. This will involve organising seminars, as under the Matthaeus 
programme, and producing teaching resources in the form of videos, 
manuals, training modules, etc.; 
closer cooperative links with associations representing the trade in 
chemical products and the chemicals industry with a view to making them 
more aware of the problem and securing their active participation in 
detecting cases of precursor chemicals diversion; 
elimination of obstacles to inspections (e.g. in the context of commercial 
and statistical confidentiality), by seeking arrangements whereby the 
competent authorities can gain access to the original unprocessed 
information; 
strengthening administrative cooperation at Community level (Regulation 
No 1468/81), taking in the aspects relating to third countries, and taking 
account of the varied nature of the authorities concerned (e.g. health, trade, 
customs, police). The emphasis here will be on the standardised exchange 
of information on fraud via the SCENT/CIS5 network, and on the more 
general exchange of data within the REITOX network set up by the 
Monitoring Centre under its constitutive regulation.; 
provision of appropriate information and statistical data to the European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in accordance with 
Council Regulation (EEC) n" 302/93 of 8 February 1993. 
It should then be possible to carry out a first reliable assessment exercise during 
the period 1995-96, based on the following elements: 
- information gathered by the authorities responsible for control and 
enforcement; 
- information supplied by the countries of destination; 
- evaluation procedures under the auspices of the International Narcotics 
Control Board (INCB), in conjunction with other major exporters of 
chemical products (where appropriate under the auspices of the Dublin 
Group). 
DEA : Drug Enforcement Administration of the United Nations. 
OAS : Organisation of American States. 
SCENT : System of Customs Enforcement Network 
CIS : Customs Information System 
REITOX : Réseau Européen d'Information sur les Drogues et les Toxicomanies. 
12 
Depending on the results of the above evaluation procedures, there might be a 
subsequent reorientation of the approach to the way control is conducted, with a 
view to the possible introduction of any changes (e.g. legislative amendments, 
wider scope of chemical substances covered, redeployment of administrative 
resources). 
33 Action by the European Union at international level : The diversion of precursor 
chemicals is a global phenomenon, feeding off the complexity of trading patterns 
and commercial procedures. As a result, cooperation with the industrialised 
countries and with the countries of destination in the Third World will continue 
to be a priority matter at both bilateral and multilateral level. 
At bilateral level the main efforts will continue to be geared to completing the 
"sensitive country approach" based on export controls on substances destined for 
countries where there is thought to be a risk of diversion. Arrangements have been 
concluded with 24 such countries, and agreements with 11 others are in the 
pipeline. The negotiation of specific agreements on precursors, covering 
commercial checks, administrative assistance and technical cooperation, is 
regarded as the most effective means of addressing the problem, particularly 
where such agreements are of a regional nature. In addition to the negotiations 
currently in progress with the ASEAN countries, comparable action should enable 
the negotiations in 1994 of a similar agreement with the countries of Latin 
America (the OAS and the Rio Group), with provision being made for electronic 
mail links. Other countries or regions might be the subject of a similar approach 
depending on how diversion practices develop in the future. Contacts and 
exchanges of information with the USA will continue with a view to setting up 
a notification mechanism on suspect exports. Here again, this might include an 
electronic mail link. 
One important project running under the regional PHARE programme on drugs 
concerns the development of legislation and administrative structures in six 
countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, 
Slovakia and the Czech Republic); this will continue in 1994 and. 1995. From 
1994 on, five other countries will be covered by an extension to the programme 
(Albania, the three Baltic States and Slovenia). Similar measures might be taken 
under the TACIS programme, given the growing importance of the 
Commonwealth of Independent States as a focal point of precursor diversion 
activities. 
For the purpose of awareness-enhancement, joint activities, in the form of 
workshops, seminars and the like, should be organised with third countries and 
international organisations (e.g. USA-DEA, UNDCP/INCB, the Pompidou Group, 
the Customs Cooperation Council, ICPO-Interpol)6. 
At multilateral and global level, the Community should continue to participate 
in international initiatives such as the CATF7 and projects supported by the INCB 
and the UNDCP as a matter of priority, with special reference to examining the 
ICPO : International Criminal Police Organisation. 
CATF : Chemical Action Task Force, under the auspices of G7. 
implementation of CATF recommendations, the formulation of a joint approach 
to countries and/or regions which are not participating in the control system and 
the creation of an international databank network. The coordination mechanism 
on precursors which was successfully set up in 1993 with the other exporting 
countries (INCB/UNDCP, Pompidou Group, USA) should be extended and, if 
appropriate, formalised, with a view to avoiding any duplication of effort. 
c) Money laundering 
34 The work developed at Community level in this matter is based on the Directive 
on prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money 
laundering adopted on 10 June 19918. The consolidation work should proceed as 
follows: 
Ensure the full implementation of the Directive on money laundering by 
all the Member States and by the member countries of EFTA which 
belong to the European Economic Area (EEA). The Directive should have 
been transposed by 1 January 1993, and while most Member States have 
already adopted the necessary legislation, others are in the process of 
doing so. The Commission is applying infraction procedures to these latter 
countries. The EFTA countries signatories of the EEA Treaty are also 
obliged to introduce the Directive into their national laws, under the 
control of the EFTA Monitoring Authorithy. 
Ensure that all the Member States of the European Union and the member 
countries of EFTA belonging to the EEA ratify and implement the Vienna 
and Strasbourg Conventions, as provided for in the Intergovernmental 
Declaration appended to the Directive on money laundering. This will 
make it possible to supplement the penal aspect of the anti-laundering 
mechanism by specific measures on the seizure and confiscation of the 
proceeds of criminal activities, and by cooperation between the States at 
the level of judiciary and police departments, these being the crucial 
elements in combating the laundering phenomenon. 
Make full use of all the opportunities offered in Title VI of the Treaty on 
European Union regarding cooperation in justice and home affairs, with 
special reference to judicial and police cooperation, including the use of 
Europol where appropriate, in accordance with the "Justice and Home 
Affairs" Action Plan adopted by the European Council on 10-11 December 
1993. 
Develop action at international level with a view to extending the 
application of comparable measures to those adopted by the European 
Union and other relevant international bodies to other countries of the 
world, particularly affected by the problem and presenting a particular 
interest for the Union, such as Switzerland and the countries of Central 
and Eastern Europe. It is important here to continue to give technical 
O.J. No. L166 of 28.6.1991, p. 77. 
assistance to these countries, in conjunction with FATF9 and other 
international organisations like the Council of Europe and the United 
Nations (UNDCP). 
The provision of appropriate information and data to the European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in accordance with 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 302/93 of 8 February 1993. 
3) Implementation of Title VI of the T.E.U. 
a) Judicial, customs and police cooperation (Article K.I.7). 8) and 9) 
35 Despite the contribution which the full exploitation of Community instruments can 
make to the Union's efforts against drugs trafficking, as outlined in paragraphs 
29-34 above, there is no doubt that the most directly operational aspects of this 
chapter of the drugs problem are covered by Title VI of the T.E.U. It is to the 
police, to customs administrations and to the relevant specialised agencies, 
particularly intelligence and security services, that the general public look to 
confront and defeat the powerful and well-equipped criminal organisations which 
control and exploit the lucrative trade in illegal narcotics drugs. Tide VI 
incorporates a Treaty-based commitment by Member States governments to 
cooperate fully in these efforts, building on the substantive work already 
accomplished over the years in the framework of TREVI. In its article K.1.7) to 
9), Title VI also makes clear that responsibility for taking the necessary initiatives 
lies with Member States rather than with the Community. These articles cover the 
relevant aspects of judicial cooperation (including, in particular, extradition 
aspects), customs cooperation and police cooperation. 
36 Implementation of these provisions of Title VI needs to take account of the 
objectives set out in the European Plan, as approved by the Rome European 
Council (1990) and updated by the Edinburgh European Council (1992). It 
highlights in very specific language what Heads of State and Government expect, 
in the form of six identified priorities : 
strengthening drugs controls at the external frontiers. 
cooperation and surveillance within the Community frontiers and technical 
infrastructure; 
combating the illicit manufacture of drugs by measures designed to prevent 
the diversion, for the purposes of illicit production, of precursors and other 
essential chemical products; 
measures to combat the laundering of the proceeds' from illicit drug 
trafficking; 
strengthening the legal and judicial systems; 
statistical information. 
37 The "Action Plan on Drugs, EUROPOL and Money Laundering" and the "Priority 
Work Programme for 1994" adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council 
FATF : Financial Action Task Force, under the auspices of G7. 
15 
14) 
meeting for the first time on 29-30 November 1993 reflects these priorities. In 
approving this plan and this programme the following month, the European 
Council made clear the importance it attaches to full use being made of the new 
commitment to cooperation contained in the T.E.U. The Commission recalls that 
its immediate priorities identified in this most recent programme are ; 
implementation by EUROPOL's Drugs Unit of the tasks assigned to it by 
the Ministerial Agreement of 1-2 June 1993; 
speeding up of work with a view to the conclusion, in October 1994, of 
the EUROPOL Convention; 
establishment of a strategy for combating the illicit trafficking in drugs, 
including tighter controls at the Community's external frontiers and 
measures against drugs "tourism", with special reference to : 
* implementation of the report on customs strategy at the 
Community's external frontiers; 
* finalisation of the Convention on the customs information system; 
* tightening-up of maritime inspections and maritime cooperation; 
* enhanced complementarity of action on the part of the police and 
customs services; 
* development of close cooperation with the customs and police 
services in the Union's neighbouring States; 
implementation of measures designed to promote police cooperation, more 
particularly in the field of money laundering, by exchanges of information 
and training measures; 
establishment of a centralised system for collecting scientific data based 
on a technical analysis of drug seizures in Europe. 
38 Further aspects of work under Title VI of the T.E.U. will strengthen-the Union's 
capacity for tackling the problem of drug-trafficking. Relevant priority measures 
in the Action Plan in this regard are the implementation of the recommendations 
made by the Ad Hoc Working Party on International Organised Crime, finalisation 
of the Convention on the European Information System, and work on extradition 
and judicial cooperation. Beyond these immediate priorities attention will also 
need to be given to other measures to give practical expression to the priorities 
identified by the European Council for this end. It will also be necessary to make 
the fullest possible use of the opportunities created by the existing police and 
customs networks, and by the creation of new organisations such as EUROPOL 
and the European Drugs Monitoring Centre which should establish close links of 
cooperation. 
39 The Commission will contribute where it can to pursuing these priority objectives, 
for example, through the interface with the Community's customs activities and 
with Community- legislative instruments such as those concerning precursor 
chemicals and money laundering. The major responsibility lies, however, with 
Member States. 
16 
b) Combating drug addiction (Article K.1.4^ 
40 Article K. 1.4) also offers new possibilities for cooperation against drug addiction 
which, although not very specifically defined in the language of the article itself, 
deserve to be explored to examine whether important gaps remain in the Union's 
efforts against drugs in addition to the Community instruments and to the other 
new provisions provided by the T.E.U. The Commission suggests that this 
examination should be conducted through an informed' exchange of ideas 
according to the procedures set out in Title VI, to which the Commission and all 
Member States should contribute, taking account also of the views of the 
European Parliament. 
41 It must be admitted that it is not easy to identify precisely what activities article 
K.1.4) might cover. It is easier to say what is not covered : 
(i) since the opening paragraph of Article K.l contains the words 
"without prejudice to the powers of the European Community", 
Article K.1.4) cannot be seen as the legal base for actions which 
might be pursued on the basis of European Community Treaty 
articles. This concerns primarily Article 129, but also those articles 
on which relevant existing or future legislation is or might be 
based for example, Article 113 in the case of international trade on 
precursor chemicals, Article 100A in the case of intra-Community 
movement of such products, and Article 57(2) and 100A in the 
case of the money laundering directive; 
(ii) nor can it be used for matters more properly covered by Article 
K.1.7) to 9) which are specifically excluded by K.1.4) itself. 
Moreover, within Title VI itself, Article K. 1.6 (judicial cooperation 
in the civil field) and Article K.5 (defense of common positions in 
international fora) arguably provide more appropriate legal bases 
for certain actions, even when specifically directed to drugs issues, 
than Article K.1.4) itself; 
(iii) the actions must, however, given their place in Title VI, meet the 
general criteria that they fall under the definition of "cooperation 
in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs". 
42 Against the background of these real constraints, a possible way of looking at 
Article K.1.4) would be to regard it as offering a basis for measures, in areas 
covered by Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, designed to promote the 
approximation of existing, sometimes apparently divergent, national practices in 
combatting drug addiction, consolidating them into common legislation where 
possible or at least making them more consistant and dynamic. In particular, 
article K.1.4) could be used, while respecting competences, for the purpose of 
overcoming the fragmentation between socio-medical approaches and law 
17 
enforcement in the Member States. The Commission suggests to consider the 
following possible action lines : 
interdisciplinary exchanges on the drugs problem between the bodies and 
professional organisations responsible for reducing drugs demand and 
drugs supply; 
creation of a European multicity exchange and cooperation network on the 
basis of a pilot programme, which would give practical support to efforts 
at city level in Europe to improve their local integrated strategies to 
combat drugs and crime; 
cooperation on the links between drug-taking and crime; 
convergence of criteria and indicators for collecting data on drugs and 
drug addicts, approximation of classifications, definitions and addict 
registration systems, in so far as these issues are not matters of 
Community competence; 
setting up of a convergence and coordination mechanism on general 
populations and at risk groups surveys. 
43 Better exchanges between the various bodies and organisations involved in 
combating drugs are essential if the measures introduced to fight this complex 
problem on every front are to be effective. The policies and action of one body 
can have a positive or negative effect on the work of another. A genuinely 
multidisciplinary and concerted approach to the drugs problem is therefore needed. 
Interdisciplinary exchanges on the drug problem between the bodies and 
professional organisations responsible for reducing drugs demand and drugs 
supply, in the context of joint measures taken under Article K. 1.4), could promote 
exchanges between the different actors involved (e.g. local and municipal 
authorities, magistrates, lawyers, social workers, customs officials, police officers, 
non-governmental organisations, and drug addicts' associations. On the basis of 
the experiences gained during these exchanges, joint measures could be taken in 
particular to promote specific cooperation modalities between bodies responsible 
for enforcing the law and those responsible for reducing demand. 
44 The Action Programme adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council refers 
to the need for consideration by law enforcement agencies, in conjuction with 
social and medical experts, of the link between small-scale urban crime and the 
consumption of drugs. The Florence seminar on drug policies and strategies also 
highlighted the intention of a large number of cities in Europe to set up networks 
for exchanges and co-operation with a view to improving local integrated 
strategies to combat drugs and crime. The creation of a European Forum for 
exchanges and multi-city co-operation would provide a focus point for these 
initiatives building on support already given by the Commission for measures in 
this area10 and recommendations contained in the European Parliament's report on 
In the framework of preparatory work proceeding the establishment of the 
Monitoring Centre 
small scale crime in urban areas and its links with organised crime11. The 
Commission would be prepared for the duration of the Action Plan to undertake 
a structured pilot programme of work on this question. 1994 will in any case see 
the continuation and evaluation of the first experimental measures under this 
banner. 
45 Cooperation on the links between drug-taking and crime might also focus on 
criminological research into the drugs/crime link at each stage of the drugs chain, 
including financial criminality. Finally, cooperation should focus on developing 
multidisciplinary initiatives on all these questions. 
46 The need for more reliable and comparable data on the various aspects of 
the drugs problem has been underlined on many occasions in recent years. 
Global level programmes have consistently stressed the importance of setting up 
reliable systems at local, national, regional and international levels for collecting 
and evaluating data on the global drugs problem. The Pompidou Group at the 
Council of Europe has been carrying out a major project on epidemiology and 
statistics since 1982 with the aim of developing common indicators and setting 
up a network linking a number of cities. The Commission, as part of the 
preparatory work for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug 
Addiction, the Commission financed a study by an expert from the Pompidou 
Group to determine possible areas for cooperation between the Pompidou Group 
and the Centre in the field of epidemiology.On the basis of the work of the Centre 
and the Pompidou Group on collecting comparable data, and without prejudice to 
initiatives in the Community field based for example, on Article 129 of the 
T.E.U., Article K.1.4) could enable joint positions, joint action or conventions to 
be adopted for the purpose of aligning : 
the criteria and indicators used for collecting information on drugs and 
drug addiction; 
classifications of controlled substances; 
definitions and registration systems of drug addicts in areas other than 
those relevant to Article 129. 
47 There is also a need to have a full picture of the populations affected bv the drugs 
phenomenon and of the trends in drug consumption in the Community. 
Convergence mechanisms could be developed on the basis of work carried out by 
the Pompidou Group and the work to be carried out by the Monitoring Centre, to 
allow coordinated surveys to be conducted among the general public and groups 
at risk. The reliability and usefulness of such surveys depend to a very large 
extent on their being repeated at regular intervals, and on the use of reliable and 
constant indicators and measurement methods. Joint measures could involve : 
a first Union-wide European survey on drug addiction among the general 
population (1996); 
the coordination of national surveys in schools and prisons in cooperation 
with the Pompidou Group; and 
The Salisch Report (December 1993) 
19 
The setting up in the Union of a "clearing" and coordination system for 
the national surveys, for which the Monitoring Centre might be made 
responsible. 
C. ACTION AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL 
1) General considerations 
48 The European Union needs to back up its internal plan of action against drugs 
with external action, since the effectiveness of its campaign against the abuse and 
illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances depends on measures being 
taken to curb supply and demand in the producer regions. Also, illicit drug abuse 
and the criminality which goes with it hold back the development of the Union's 
third country partners. 
The Treaty on European Union offers scope for stronger overall external action 
against drugs through the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which 
provides for the use of joint action in particular areas in which Member States 
have important interests in common, and for the establishment of systematic 
cooperation between Member States in areas of general interest. Such cooperation 
includes in particular the defining of common positions and the upholding of these 
positions in international forums. 
2) External Action Programme of the European Union 
a) Consolidation of the acquis communautaire 
49 At the multilateral level, the European Community will need to be actively 
involved with the UNDCP on the chemical precursors front. As regards the fight 
against money laundering, the European Community will continue to work 
alongside the Member States in cooperation activities in the various regions of the 
world. In order to strengthen the complementarity between the Pompidou Group 
and the European Union, the existing cooperation on precursors could be extended 
to, for example, money laundering and psychotropic substances. Particular 
attention will need to be paid to cooperation with the European Monitoring Centre 
for Drugs and Drug Addiction, which is now being set up in Lisbon. 
50 At the bilateral level, action will have to be taken in the following areas : 
Cooperation and trade (GSP)12 
The Union must target individual countries or groups of countries on the basis of 
the risks they present, their proximity to the Union and the priorities established 
by the European Council (the countries in the arc formed by the Mediterranean, 
the Middle East and Central Europe). These targeted, coordinated actions must 
form part of a programme at Union level which, among other things, should be 
12 GSP : Generalised System of Preferences 
20 
linked to national and regional drug control strategies. These programmes and 
strategies must be m ulti-sectorial, in accordance with the Global Programme of 
Action adopted by the UN General Assembly in February 1990. The sectors 
include: 
(1 ) the establishment or strengthening of systems for providing information on 
the global phenomenon of drugs, its causes and consequences; 
(2) the establishment of institutional, legal and administrative structures for he 
prevention and suppression of production and/or illicit trafficking, the 
diversion of precursors and the laundering of drug proceeds, and for the 
control of licit drug-related activities; 
(3) the prevention and/or reduction of drug abuse; 
(4) the reduction of production through policies designed to promote the 
development of durable and productive alternative economic activities in 
the zones of illicit production and in the pockets of poverty, 
marginalisation and high unemployment which underpin demand. 
In addition, the Commission is proposing in the context of GSP that the special 
arrangements aimed at the fight against drugs should be continued, provided the 
countries concerned for their part continue their efforts to combat drugs and some 
results are achieved. Progress should be monitored by evaluation and dialogue, via 
a suitable procedure to be established between the countries concerned and the 
Commission. Pursuant to the European Council recommendation, the special 
arrangements currently applying to the Andean Pact and Central American 
countries are to be renewed in order to secure the full benefits, and the 
Commission also advocates a limited extension of the scheme to other countries 
in a similar situation. 
Anti-drug clauses 
Clauses on the "fight against drugs" and on the "fight against money laundering" 
must be included as a matter of routine in the EC's external agreements, not only 
to provide a basis for the cooperation but also to develop the political dialogue. 
An immediate objective in this respect would be to encourage third countries to 
ratify the three UN Conventions designed to outlaw the production, exportation, 
importation, distribution and possession of narcotic drugs and psychotropic 
substances except for medical and scientific purposes and to promote international 
coordination against illicit trafficking. 
Financing 
The political dialogue, the international commitments entered into by third 
countries on drugs questions, and the amounts of aid available, must be exploited 
so as to make third countries accept the fight against drugs as a priority aspect of 
the Union's cooperation activity. 
As regards the ACP States, the possibilities offered by the Lomé IV Convention 
(Art. 154 (3) and Art. 159 K) for financing drug control measures have not yet 
been exploited by the authorities in those countries. It is vital, therefore, to 
conduct a dialogue with the most seriously affected countries in order to make 
them see the extent of the problem and the impact it is having on their 
development, and to encourage them to become more active in the fight against 
21 
drugs. If the Convention amendments proposed by the Commission and the 
Council are accepted by our partners a system of "political" dialogue will be 
established, thus enhancing the means for pursuing such a dialogue. The dialogue 
must seek in particular to ensure that drug control projects are included in the 
next Lomé IV programme. 
Moreover, as regards the Central and Eastern European Countries, there will be 
a need to examine the possibilities of expanding action and cooperation means in 
the framework of the PHARE and TACIS programmes. 
The specific budget heading B7-5080, "North-South cooperation schemes in the 
context of the fight against drug abuse" provides for commitment appropriations 
totalling ECU 10 million in 1994. Bearing in mind the proposals made above 
concerning the extension of the Union development cooperation, this heading can 
be maintained at its present level provided it is used primarily to facilitate the 
integration of drug control measures into the Community's bilateral cooperation 
programmes. More precisely, it must be used for: 
(1) making the political authorities of the countries targeted by the Union more 
aware of the problem, through the establishment of drug "profiles" for those 
countries; 
(2) providing technical assistance to help those countries devise integrated national 
or regional drug control strategies. Key partners here will be the UNDCP and the 
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction; 
(3) implementing pilot projects and establishing "pre-projects" (the extension of 
the latter, and the actual project phase, would then be financed under the 
development cooperation budget). 
It should also be noted that this budget heading, according to the "Remarks" 
alongside it, is also meant to cover a contribution to the activities of the UNDCP. 
Given that it is the wish of the Union, and of other important donors, to see the 
UNDCP play a larger role in coordinating international anti-drug efforts, and 
given the UNDCP's widely acknowledged expertise and its status as a key 
interlocutor with third countries, the European Community should aim to set aside 
a significant amount for financing actions under the UNDCP's two-yearly 
programme. 
b) Common Foreign and Security Policy 
51 To reinforce its approach the Community needs to consolidate its traditional 
external action with new action under the umbrella of the CFSP. The Lisbon 
European Council of June 1992 identified the fight against trafficking in illicit 
drugs as an area lending itself to joint action by the Union and identified the 
Maghreb and the Middle East as priority regions for application of the CFSP in 
the fight against drugs. The Brussels European Council of December 1993 
confirmed these conclusions. 
An initial example of joint CFSP action would be systematically to include the 
"drugs" question in the political dialogue conducted by the Union with third 
?? 
countries, based on the experience already acquired in the fields of 
démocratisation and human rights, with a view to enhancing awareness of the 
drugs phenomenon at the highest political levels. And if the dialogue partner were 
to maintain a resolutely negative attitude the Union might choose to review or 
even suspend the envisaged or existing cooperation. Moreover, Member States 
could, as part of the joint action, support the Community's efforts through their 
own appropriate diplomatic measures. 
With this in mind, the establishment of a series of common positions should be 
envisaged, allowing the Union to strengthen and pursue more effectively its drug 
control objectives within the competent international forums (UNDCP, Council 
of Europe, etc). It will be up to the CFSP Drugs Group to examine and define the 
content of each of these positions. 
In the framework of the European Council's conclusions on the fight against 
trafficking in illicit drugs, joint actions could be envisaged to improve the capacity 
and willingness of certain countries or certain regions to commit themselves fully 
in the fight against drugs. Finally, Community's initiatives can be backed up by 
joint actions in particular where they can provide an appropriate political 
framework to help ensure the succesfull and effective implementation of the 
initiatives. 
D. COORDINATION 
1) General considerations 
52 The effective implementation of a comprehensive and integrated response to the 
drugs phenomenon at the level of the Union will call for action at different levels 
-local, national, Union - and, insofar as it involves the Union, across the three 
pillars which go to make it up. Equally it involves a wide range of actors both 
governmental and non-governmental. A new Union Action Plan can provide a 
framework for that work but its implementation will also require an ongoing effort 
to ensure the machinery for effective co-ordination of the actions to be pursued 
and coherence between the different actors involved. 
53 Any failure to achieve such coordination would run the risk of waste of energy 
and resources on implementing objectives lacking the necessary consistency. The 
result would be poorly defined priorities,, leading in turn to unnecessary 
duplication of effort and lack of clarity of the programmes, both for the policy­
makers and for the public at large. 
54 It will be essential, therefore, to maintain and even enhance coordination at 
Member State and Union level. This part of the document investigates how 
existing mechanisms might be a help in this process and in making the Action 
Plan operational. 
2) Coordination within and between the Member States 
55 As was mentioned earlier, the first two European plans emphasised the importance 
and the role of national coordination as a key element in any integrated strategy 
to combat drugs. The second plan acknowledged that it was up to the individual 
23 
Member States to determine what type of mechanism was best suited to their 
national requirements, but felt that the Member States could usefully engage in 
an exchange of experience on the effectiveness of their respective mechanisms. 
56 In addition, the European Council opted to extend the comprehensive approach 
to drug-related problems following the entry into force of the T.E.U. and to give 
COREPER the task of ensuring the consistency of work on drugs under the three 
"pillars". The European Council also noted with approval a report from CELAD 
recommending that COREPER consider convening meetings of national 
coordinators on drugs issues, with a view to coordinating the position of the 
Twelve and of the Community ahead of major events and international meetings. 
That report also recommended that, where necessary, and after making the 
appropriate consultations, COREPER consider calling meetings of the national 
drugs coordinators to examine specific questions relating to the different "pillars", 
for which their specialist knowledge would be of great use, with a view to 
drawing on their advice on drugs matters13. 
57 The entry into force of the Treaty on European Union has also clarified this 
situation by creating or adjusting, within the Council, in addition to existing 
groups competent for certain Community matters, the vertical structures 
corresponding to the three key components of any effective action against drugs: 
Public Health (Health Council), Justice and Home Affairs (Justice and Home 
Affairs Council) and International Action (General Affairs Council). Specialist 
groups in the Council are competent to deal with the corresponding subject areas: 
Health Group, K.4 Committee, CSFP - Drugs. 
58 Co-ordination will remain important for a variety of purposes. These would 
include : 
Closer and more systematic coordination of the positions of the 
Community and its Member States in the run-up to major international 
events dealing with the global drugs issue: the United Nations General 
Assembly and Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the ministerial conferences 
and meetings of the Permanent correspondents of the Council of Europe's 
Pompidou Group, meetings of the Dublin Group, etc. 
Examining the "inter-pillar" aspects of action taken by the European Union 
against drugs (initiatives and follow-up), including the relevant aspects of 
the Drugs Monitoring Centre's work programmes (for which the Council's 
opinion is required) and, in the near future, the Centre's first three-year 
programme of work. 
Undertaking work, jointly between the national coordinators and the 
Monitoring Centre,, with a view to an exchange of experience on the 
effectiveness of (national coordination) mechanisms, as provided for in the 
second European plan14. 
13 Doc. CELAD 124, 3 December 1992, as "noted with approval" by the Edinburgh European 
Council. 
Bearing in mind (a) the Centre's general terms of reference and (b) its second priority concerning 
24 
59 It will be for COREPER to decide on the appropriate co-ordination mechanisms 
at the level of the Council. The important thing, in the interests of an integrated 
approach to the drugs phenomenon, is to ensure that the new institutional 
structures contribute to strengthening coordination at the level of Member States 
and of the Union. 
3) The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction 
60 Information and analysis are both crucial elements in gaining an understanding of 
the complex phenomenon of drugs, in terms both of rationalising and optimising 
the political decision-making process at Member State level, and in the Union as 
a whole. This is why, in adopting the Regulation on the establishment of a 
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction15, the Community 
opted for an ambitious structure, i.e. an agency under Community law, with an 
initial budget of approximately ECU 5 million in the form of a Community 
subsidy, and based on an interactive network of national drugs information 
centres, known as Reitox, with a view not only to disseminating existing 
information, but also (and above all) to improving the comparability of national 
data and, wherever necessary, harmonising the methods and criteria for collecting 
such data. 
61 The Centre's remit for the purpose is comprehensive. Its five priority areas are, 
in order: 
- demand, and reduction of the demand, for drugs; 
- national and Community strategies and policies; 
- international cooperation and geopolitics of supply; 
- control of trade in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors; 
- implications of the drugs phenomenon for producer, consumer and transit 
countries (including money laundering). 
62 The Centre's management board will have to draw up and adopt the first three-
year work programme after consulting the Commission and the Council. "Special 
attention" is to be given initially to demand and demand reduction, and the Centre 
will thus have a key role to play in this area. However, it will also have to make 
sure, if it is to comply with its mandate under the Regulation, that it helps give 
the Community and the Member States an overall view of the drugs phenomenon, 
in accordance with their specific needs. The Commission and the Member States 
are required to do everything in their power to support the Centre and ensure that 
it accomplishes all the tasks expected of it, particularly through their 
representatives on the management board16. 
63 The Monitoring Centre and its network of national centres (Reitox) thus constitute 
the Community's structure for the collection and dissemination of information on 
drugs and drug addiction. Its powers, however, extend only to making 
recommendations; it has no normative or legislative powers, which remain in the 
policies and strategies. 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 302/93, 8 February 1993, OJ L36, 12.2.1993. 
One per Member State, two for the Commission and two for the European Parliament. 
25 
hands of the Community and the Member States, although the exercise of such 
powers should be facilitated by the work of the Centre. Set up to facilitate the 
political decision-making process, the contribution it can make has clearly been 
enhanced by the entry into force of the TEU and the new structure it provides. 
64 The Centre's most important task will be to supply the Member States and the 
European Union institutions with the raw material they need to enable them to 
exercise to the full their respective responsibilities on drugs, and more 
particularly, to achieve the objectives and measures laid down in the integrated 
Action Plan. In particular, the Centre will provide an opportunity to stimulate and 
structure research and training on drugs, drug addiction, their causes and 
consequences, within the framework of its constituting mandate and on the basis 
of the priorities set up in its work programmes, whether the focus being on 
political, socio-economic, biomedical or even criminological domains. Inventories 
of research and training already conducted by the Member States in these fields 
have already been produced in the course of preparatory work leading up to the 
establishment of the Centre17. 
65 Other preparatory work undertaken by the Commission prior to the establishment 
of the Centre should also be useful in drawing up the Centre's first 3-year work 
programme. The 35 technical reports which were drawn up between 1992 and 
1994, most of which were examined by the Member States in the second half of 
1993, provide a sound technical basis for the Centre's initial work. 
66 The Centre should also have access rapidly to a large volume of information on 
all aspects of the drug problem from the Member States, the Commission, the 
international organisations with which it is required to cooperate (UNDCP, WHO, 
the Pompidou Group, the CCC, Interpol and Europol)18, the associated NGOs and 
non-member countries taking part in its information activities. For this reason 
alone, it will be well placed to provide information on the implementation of this 
new integrated Action Plan. 
67 In this context, and using the abovementioned resources, the Centre should be in 
a position to supply the institutions and the Member States, with effect from 1995, 
with an "Annual report on the Drugs Phenomenon and Policies for Combating 
Drugs in Europe". 
4) Multi-disciplinary aspects 
68 Co-ordination will also be of importance in relation to a number of identifiable 
subjects and activities which are multi-disciplinary by nature. These include 
activities common to more than one of the three elements of the Action Plan 
and/or activities in which the Community is already engaged in sponsoring a 
17 Hilde van Lindt: "Drug research in the EC Member States and cross-border networks of 
researchers: Instruments of anti-drug strategy?" 
Alexis Goosdeel: "Drug-related training programmes in Europe: an overview" 
WHO : World Health Organisation 
CCC : Customs Cooperation Council 
26 
multi-disciplinary approach. Co-ordination in these areas is of particular 
importance if duplication of effort or gaps are to be avoided. 
69 Priority subjects in this regard are : 
Information 
Studies and research 
Training and exchanges of professionals, 
70 It will be necessary to ensure that action arising from the various programmes is 
consistent on these points. The Commission will seek to guarantee the necessary 
consistency in whatever initiatives it will be taking. Within the Council, this will 
be the responsibility of COREPER, which will also be able to call on the help of 
the national coordinators. Over and above these institutional possibilities, there are 
other ways of promoting the necessary multisectoral and multi disci pli nary action 
so as to make for the greatest possible coherence in the approach to the drugs 
problem. The broad lines of action for creating this essential coherence are 
explored below. 
Information 
Since the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction was set up 
precisely with an information remit, it - and the Reitox network of national 
centres - offers the optimum structure for horizontal coordination in this particular 
field, bearing in mind its comprehensive remit set out in the regulation. The 
Centre should therefore automatically become the focal point for synthesis, 
coordination and cooperation work at Union level in terms of information on the 
drugs phenomenon and on anti-drugs policies, programmes, instruments and 
measures. For a more detailed analysis, the reader is referred to paragraphs 60-67. 
The information and statistical aspects of the Action Plan should not duplicate 
Community socio-economic and health statistics. Close cooperation will therefore 
need to be established between the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and 
Drug Addiction and EUROSTAT concerning content and methodology. 
Studies and research 
The Florence seminar on policies and strategies clearly identified research as a 
key element in any European anti-drugs strategy but also brought out the relative 
weakness and isolation of European research on these matters, compared, say, 
with the equivalent policy pursued by the United States. The USA has also been 
active in seeking an effective form of scientific partnership with the European 
Union on these matters. 
It is thus imperative, both for the Union's own needs and for the effective 
operation of the Monitoring Centre in this essential field, to strengthen research 
on drugs in Europe, give it a flexible coordination structure and accord a high 
level of priority to drug-related subjects in existing research programmes, 
particularly at Community level. Article 1,29 of the T.E.U. explicitely foresees 
that, in the area of Public Health Community action must promote research into 
the causes and transmission of drug addiction and that health protection 
27 
19 
20 requirements form a constituent part of the Community's other policies including 
research. Health research in drug addiction should therefore bear special attention 
in the framework of the proposed action. 
To this end, it is proposed to coordinate integrated research action on drugs and 
drug addiction within the context of the fourth framework programme for 
Community research and technological development (1994-98)19. This would 
enhance the coherence of relevant measures under a range of more specific 
programmes. It would cover the following elements: 
1) Comparative studies and research on comprehensive policies (health, 
social, enforcement, etc.) and strategies against drugs in Europe, in 
conjunction with the Commission, the European University Institute in 
Florence, the European Monitoring Centre, the COST Programme (A6)20, 
and the Community's principal European and international partners. 
2) Studies and research into common-interest technological and telematics 
applications, in close collaboration between the Commission, the European 
Monitoring Centre and its Reitox network of national centres, and within 
the context of the planned trans-European networks. 
3) Environmental and space technology studies and research of interest to 
drugs workers, more especially regarding earth observation and space 
technologies, in close cooperation between the Commission (and the JRC) 
and the European Monitoring Centre. 
4) Studies and research in the life sciences and technologies, more 
particularly biotechnology, biomedical and health research and agro-
industrial research, in close cooperation between the Commission, the 
Monitoring Centre and the WHO. 
5) Socio-economic studies and research focusing on the causes and 
consequences of drug dependence particularly in relation-with social 
exclusion and the underground economy including money laundering, in 
close cooperation between the Commission, the Monitoring Centre, the 
Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, and the European Parliament's 
action on issues related to urban safety. 
6) Research and development into a wide range of joint research activities 
concerning all drug-related subjects with certain developing countries, the 
countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and certain of the developed 
countries, in conjunction with the Community framework programme's 
STD programme. 
Doc. COM (93) 459 final, 6 October 1993. 
COST Programme (A6) on "assessment of actions to reduce drug addiction" and 
associated networks on "evaluation of policies, policy changes and social 
responses", "evaluation of primary prevention", "treatment evaluation", 
"development of research instruments" and "drug related crime". 
28 
In all these research-related activities, special attention will focus on establishing 
and/or strengthening collaborative links with the leading international research 
organisations and centres. 
This should make it possible to: 
- stimulate and encourage research in the Member States and at Union level; 
- facilitate methodological exchanges and networked multi-annual research 
activities; 
- encourage training for researchers on the general problem of drugs in 
Europe; 
- multiply the existing range of training opportunities and facilitate the 
integration of European researchers in existing national centres; 
- organise seminars and conferences leading to suggestions for action and 
decisions which the Commission and the Member States should take on 
board, on the basis of the dissemination of the research findings by the 
European Monitoring Centre (thus ensuring a better complementarity 
between research and a taking of practical policy decision). 
To this end, thought should be given to ways of according priority, for the life of 
the integrated Action Plan, to an integrated research effort on drugs as part of the 
existing framework research programme; this would cost something like ECU 10 
to 15 million per year, and would not require any new budgetary resources. 
Training and exchanges of professionals 
Along with information and research, training is one of the priority targets for 
European Union action against drugs. There is a very real need here felt by all 
professionals in the field, and as such it is an automatic candidate for a 
multi disci pli nary approach. If it is to be truly effective, while also ensuring the 
development of the powers and capacity for action appropriate to each profession 
in response to specific or local needs, the aim must be to extend our general 
analysis of the phenomenon to take in the specialities and constraints of other 
professional interests, and to develop multidisciplinary ways of working. 
The important point is to collect and organise all existing resources in a form 
which can be placed at the disposal of the Member States and partner countries 
of the European Union. It will also be necessary to create the right conditions for 
exchanges and for critical analysis on the part of training programme organisers, 
based on their own experience. 
To meet these significant training needs both within the Union and in its partner 
countries consideration might be given to three priority measures: 
- Supplementing and updating the inventory of training programmes on drugs in 
Europe, and of the initiatives supported by the Commission in this field under the 
various budget headings (e.g. Erasmus, Horizon, DG V programmes, DG I, 
29 
Tempus, etc.). What is needed more especially is a full dossier on training 
programmes and potential partners with a view to setting up an interactive 
databank. This priority work will be carried out in close collaboration with 
international organisations which run similar programmes (e.g. WHO, UNO, 
UNESCO, Pompidou Group). 
- Providing logistical backup for the creation of a European Training Network on 
Drugs, with a view to furnishing the necessary support for exchanges and 
discussions on training programmes, their content, methodologies and evaluation. 
The important thing here is to make optimum use of resources by mobilising and 
bringing together the wide range of human resources identified in the existing 
inventory. 
- Facilitating training measures which have been selected for their potential 
multiplier effect, and which are likely to be of use both within the Union and 
outside. 
In this regard, there are six aspects of training which should be given special 
attention in terms of development and coordination: 
1) High-level training on the integrated aspects and integrated strategies to combat 
drugs. 
Target: policy-makers, high-ranking officials, top officials responsible for sectoral 
policies, administrators, politicians, etc. 
2) Training for trainers in the field of demand reduction. 
Joint action programme with the Pompidou Group, the aim being to train 
operators in the Community, in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and 
in certain other non-member countries, according to a common curriculum. 
3) Training for trainers in the field of multidisciplinary field strategies, taking in 
existing knowledge and methods of combating drugs (i.e. prevention, treatment, 
reintegration, law enforcement). 
4) Training for trainers in the field of international cooperation and the geopolitics 
of supply, specifically targeted at cooperation workers in non-member countries, 
and more especially at NGOs operating in the field of demand reduction and 
alternative development, but also nationals of the countries themselves. 
5) Training for management staff in the field of precursor control, with special 
reference to preventing the diversion of precursors, both within the Community 
and outside, pursuant to the CATF's recommendations. 
6) Training for administrative and financial managers in the field of money 
laundering, both within the Community and outside, pursuant to the relevant EEC 
Council Directive (91/308) and to the FATF recommendations. 
30 
E. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 
71 The Community's first drugs-related budgets date from 1986-87, at which time a 
budget heading was created to cover measures designed to combat drug 
dependence in the Community, together with a second heading covering the 
Community's work in the producer and transit developing countries. Developments 
over the period 1989-93 led to the emergence of new needs, and consequently 
new budget structures, more particularly in the field of precursors, money 
laundering, and the preparatory work leading up to the European Monitoring 
Centre (for which a special budget item was created in 1993). Provision under the 
main budget lines of relevance to the fight against drugs has steadily increased 
from 5,5 Mecus in 1987 to 22,6 Mecus in 1994. The budget lines in question for 
the purposes of the 1994 budget, and the Commission proposals (APB) for 1995 
are set out in Annex 3. 
72 The fact that the plan set out in this communication spreads across all three 
"pillars" of the Treaty of European Union, each with its own budgetary 
mechanisms and sources of finance, make the presentation of its budgetary aspects 
unusually complex. As far as those aspects which fall squarely under the 
European Community's sphere of responsibility are concerned, special mention 
might be made regarding the Commission's proposals for a programme on drug 
demand reduction, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug 
Addiction whose budget of 4.8 mecu for 1994 represents a concrete commitment 
to the Union's determination to tackle the drugs problem. As far as the 
Community's external programme is concerned, the proposal is to pursue the 
actions conducted since 1987 in favour of developing countries, which in 1994 
involves provision for expenditure of 10 mecu. In additon provision was made for 
the first time in 1993 within the PHARE programme for assistance to the 
countries of Central and Eastern Europe on drugs. 
That programmers being extended and reinforced in 1994/1995. Actions to be 
taken in the name of the Common Foreign and Security Policies are, however 
more difficult to budget for, since they can be expected to consist-primarly of 
diplomatic and political activity supported where appropriate by calibrated use of 
the Union's agreements with the key third countries involved. Apart from these 
budgetary lines dedicated to drugs, the Action Plan will involve greater priority 
being given to drug related issues in the context of other existing Community 
programmes (e.g. research and training). 
Cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs also requires a willingness 
to provide the necessary financial support. The most concrete example is the 
budget needed for the recently created Europol Drugs Unit and its succesor 
organisation EUROPOL (which will give a continuing high priority to drugs). This 
particular budget has been drawn up on the basis of national contributions and 
therefore does not involve the Community budget. Other possible action under 
Title VI will, if approved, imply a need for finance. The Treaty rules for 
expenditure under this Title provide that, unless decided otherwise by unanimity 
in the Council, such expenditure falls to Member States to finance through 
31 
national contributions. Nevertheless, the Commission has proposed for 1995 a 5 
mecu budget line which could finance, among other things, the beginnings of the 
sort of actions proposed in paragraphs 40-47 above. 
73 The sums mentioned for the most part represent continuing expenditure on the 
basis of existing budget lines, supplemented by provision for a new programme 
in the field of demand reduction. To this must also be added the financing of the 
two new drugs-related bodies created especially to contribute to the fight against 
drugs : the Europol Drugs Unit and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs 
and Drug Addiction. 
III. CONCLUSIONS 
74 The Commission believes that it is important for the European Union to follow 
up the work already done by the Community and its Member States on the drugs 
front by implementing and/or building on the results achieved by the Community 
and in the context of intergovernmental cooperation (e.g. within the TREVI, MAG 
and CELAD groups in particular). The new opportunities available under the 
Treaty on European Union (Article 129, Title V and Title VI) should be utilised 
to maximum effect by the Union with a view to consolidating and developing the 
measures already taken, both by the Community and by the Twelve in the 
intergovernmental framework. 
75 The proposed European Union Action Plan (1995-99) offers therefore a 
framework within which priorities can be implemented, in accordance with the 
Treaty, in the following fields: 
i) Multi-annual Community action programme to prevent drug dependence and the 
ensuing problems (Article 129), on the one hand, and measures designed to 
consolidate earlier Community work on completion of the internal market, 
precursors and money laundering, on the other. 
ii) Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs through implementation of Title VI of 
the T.E.U. and development of the possibilities offered by Article K.1.4) in the 
area of "combatting drug addiction", including the creation of a European forum 
for exchanges and multi-city cooperation. 
iii) Action in the international field, combining the traditional instruments of 
Community external action and those now available within the context of 
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). 
iv) Horizontal action programmes comprised of the following priorities : 
- maintenance and reinforcement of the role of national coordinators; 
-setting up and making full use of the global information assignment given to the 
European Monitoring Centre; 
- establishment of multi sectoral coordination in information, research and training. 
These measures will require the coordinated and consistent application of the 
various instruments and means of action available under the TEU, taking full 
account of the respective powers of the Community and its Member States, and 
having regard to the subsidiarity principle 
The Commission will review the implementation of this Action Plan and submit 
a report to the Council in the second half of 1996 with recommendations for any 
necessary adjustments. The Commission will also submit, no later than 1 January 
1999, assisted where necessary by the national coordinators and the European 
Monitoring Centre, a final report on the implementation of the Action Plan, and 
could come up with appropriate proposals for the five-year period 2000-2004. 
33 
ANNEXES 
Annex 1: The achievements of the Community and the Member States 
Annex 2: The Treaty on European Union and its consequences as regards drugs strategy 
Annex 3: The Drugs Budgets 
Annex 4: Basic statistics 
34 
ANNEX 
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE 
MEMBER STATES 
A. Political and institutional developments (1989 - 1993). 
The Member States have been cooperating on a purely inter-governmental basis 
within the TREVI group since the mid-1980s on combating drug trafficking. 
Meanwhile and in parallel the Health Ministers meeting within the Council had 
since 1984 been engaged in jointly defining an approach by the Twelve to the 
serious problem of drug addiction. 
The first occasion on which the Community as such participated on work in the 
drugs field was in June 1987, at the International Conference on Drug Abuse and 
Illicit Trafficking organised in Vienna by the United Nations Secretary General. 
In the wake of the Vienna Conference, and with an eye to the adoption by the 
international community of a new international Convention on the fight against 
the abuse of illicit drugs, the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, 
adopted on 26 January 1987 an initial decision paving the way for the Community 
to adopt a structured and integrated approach to the drugs problem in its 
cooperation relations with producer or transit third countries. This decision was 
complemented in 1988 by a mandate to the Commission allowing the Community 
to participate as such in the final phase of negotiation of the new international 
Convention, on the basis of its competence in the field of "chemical and 
pharmaceutical precursors", which were the subject of a specific Article in the 
draft Convention. The Community therefore participated in these negotiations in 
1988. The Community became party to the Convention on 22 October 1990 
following the adoption of the Convention in Vienna on 19 December 1988. The 
Community was thus recognised from 1988 onwards, albeit on a basis of limited 
competence, as a partner as of right in the international fight against drugs. 
Another significant development, against the background of the creation of the 
Single Market, was President Mitterrand's initiative, on 3 October 1989, when 
addressing the Heads of State and Government and the President of the 
Commission, he advocated an integrated approach by the Twelve to the drugs 
phenomenon. He suggested, among other things, two operational measures to help 
achieve this approach, namely the creation of a mechanism for coordinating 
national policies and the creation of an "observatory" to measure the drugs 
phenomenon at European level. 
Set up on 1 December 1989, and with its coordination mandate confirmed by the 
Strasbourg European Council of 8 and 9 December 1989, the European Committee 
to Combat Drugs (CELAD) immediately began, drafting the first European Plan 
to Combat Drugs. The significance of this first European Plan, which was adopted 
in 1990, was that it was conceived as an integrated plan. It focussed on five 
aspects, designed henceforth to act as points of reference for the Community and 
its Member States: 
35 
1) coordination at Member State level; 
2) a European observatory to monitor the drugs phenomenon; 
3) action to reduce drug demand; 
4) action to combat illicit trafficking; 
5) action at international level. 
This approach was formally adopted by the Rome European Council of 13 and 
14 December 1990. The first European Plan thus became the conceptual and 
operational framework for action by the Member States and the Community. 
The major points of the first Plan can be summarised as follows: 
a) horizontal aspects. 
- Introduction of effective coordination mechanisms on drugs in the Member 
States; creation of a European Drugs Monitoring Centre, to cover not just the 
social and health aspects but also the other aspects of the drugs problem, 
including trafficking and repression; 
b) demand reduction. 
- Action recommended to the Member States within the following priority areas: 
prevention by way of information and education; social and health treatment; 
social and occupational integration of drug addicts; addiction and AIDS; statistics 
and epidemiology; training of qualified personnel; non-governmental 
organisations; 
- Community action: implementation of the conclusions and resolutions adopted 
by the Council and the Ministers for Health; information and health education 
(particularly in schools); statistics and epidemiology; medical prescriptions and 
dispensing of drugs for therapeutic purposes; 
c) repression of trafficking. 
- Priority measures: reinforcement of drug checks at external frontiers; cooperation 
and surveillance within the Community's internal borders; measures to combat the 
diversion of precursor chemicals and other essential chemical products; measures 
to prevent the recycling of revenue from illicit trafficking; strengthening of 
judicial and legal systems; statistics; 
d) international action. 
- Priority measures: implementation of the UN conventions and the UN world 
action programme; cooperation with the main producer and transit countries; 
cooperation with the other developed consumer countries. 
This European Plan was to provide the framework for the development of a 
genuine Community effort on drug matters, despite the lack of any clear 
Community competence under the Treaty of Rome, as amended by the Single 
European Act. 
The revised version of the European Plan, approved by the Edinburgh European 
Council of 11 and 12 December 1992, reiterated and updated its priorities, at the 
same time taking into account the results obtained, such as the political agreement 
reached in June 1992 on the draft Council Regulation setting up a European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, and the organisation of the first 
36 
European Drug Prevention Week, which took place from 16 to 22 November 
1992. The revised Plan also noted the Commission's 1992 report on national 
policies and Community action to reduce drug demand. 
The integrated approach as set out in the revised Plan looks to the future, insofar 
as it states that "the proposals for the future Plan should endeavour to achieve a 
satisfactory balance between demand reduction, law enforcement and international 
actions, and consideration will need to be given to the budgetary provisions which 
will need to be allocated". (Document CELAD 126 of 3 December 1992, p. 8). 
B. Instruments adopted, and the implementation of the first two European Plans 
(1989-1993). 
1989-1993 saw the adoption and implementation of a series of instruments, and 
Community instruments in particular, covering the priority issues identified in the 
European Plans to Combat Drugs, instruments which provide important safeguards 
for the future at a time when the Union must define its medium-term strategy on 
this scourge of modern society. They are described in brief below, following the 
same structure as adopted in the Plans themselves : 
1) Horizontal aspects 
i) Coordination within and between Member States 
The Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline adopted by the International 
Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Vienna, in June 1987, 
stressed the need to set up a drug control coordination structure in all States, 
bringing together the public players, the private players and the associations 
involved in the fight against drug addiction. 
The Member States of the European Community have set up such coordination 
structures. These vary from country to country in their composition, their 
organisation, and their mandates. Through CELAD (the European Committee to 
Combat Drugs), which was set up in December 1989, these national structures 
have been brought together and have been able to establish fruitful cooperation. 
ii) The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) 
A common diagnosis of drug addiction in Europe, leading eventually to the setting 
up of a monitoring centre21 was also among the measures suggested in President 
Mitterrand's October 1989 initiative. 
In 1990, at CELAD's request, the Commission conducted an initial feasibility 
study concerning the idea of a monitoring centre. The first European Plan, adopted 
by the Rome European Council in December 1990, noted this study with 
21 The need for a mechanism of this type had already been stressed in Mrs Scrivener's European 
Parliament Report on the Fight Against Drugs (EP document 1-11079/81 of5 March 1982) as well 
as the Stewart-Clark report on the drugs problem in Community member states (EC Publications 
Office, Luxembourg, 1987) 
37 
satisfaction, adding that the monitoring centre's brief should cover not only the 
social and health aspects of drugs but also other aspects, including trafficking and 
enforcement. On the basis of a more detailed feasibility study by the Commission, 
confirmed by CELAD, the Luxembourg European Council of 28 and 29 June 
1991 decided to approve the setting up of a European Monitoring Centre with a 
general information mandate concerning drugs. 
CELAD having concluded that the Monitoring Centre should be an "agency under 
Community law", the Commission presented to the Council on 27 January 1992 
a "proposal for a Council regulation on the establishment of a European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction". After lengthy negotiations the 
Regulation, which is based on Article 235 of the EEC Treaty, was adopted by the 
Council on 8 February 1993.22 It came into force on 30 October 1993, after the 
European Council had decided that the Monitoring Centre's seat should be in 
Lisbon. 
The Regulation states that "the Centre should be entrusted with the task of 
furnishing overall information which will help to provide the Community and its 
Member States with an overall view of the drug and drug addiction phenomenon; 
this task should not prejudice the allocation of powers between the Community 
and its Member States with regard to the legislative provisions concerning drug 
supply and demand". The Monitoring Centre will be supported by a network of 
national information centres on drugs and drug addiction, known as REITOX. 
While the Monitoring Centre is required to give "special attention" to demand 
reduction during its first three years, it should be in a position from the start fully 
to play its part as a European "compass" to chart the drug phenomenon, and 
should thus help the Member States and the institutions of the Union when they 
need to take policy decisions in this field. 
2) Demand reduction 
Both of the European Plans state that reducing the demand for drugs in Europe 
should be a high priority within any integrated drug control strategy-.23 Similarly, 
demand reduction is cited as crucial in important reports adopted by the European 
Parliament.24 
Since 1986 the Ministers for Health meeting within the Council have sought to 
put this political will into practice. From 1989 onwards, they adopted a series of 
resolutions and conclusions requiring the Commission to support the actions of the 
23 
24 Council Regulation (EEC) No 302/93 of 8 February 1993, OJ No L 36 of 12.2.1993. 
•European Programme to Combat Drugs. CELAD report to the Rome European Council of 13 and 
14 December 1990, Doc. CELAD 126, pp. 3-9 and 25-28. 
*CELAD report to the Edinburgh European Council of 11 and 12 December 1992, pp. 10-16. 
•Report on education for health and drugs misuse in the Member States of the European 
Community and the Council of Europe. Sir J. Stewart-Clark. 
*Report on the drugs problem in the Member States of the Community. Sir J. Stewart-CI ark, 
pp. 61-83. 
•Report on the development in the Community countries of drug-trafficking related organised 
crime Mr Cooney (April 1992) 
38 
Member States by taking initiatives or carrying out work in particular fields, for 
example: 
creation of a European network of health data on drug abuse (Council 
Resolution of 16 May 1989), 
prevention of AIDS in intravenous drug users (Conclusions of 16 May 
1989), 
- reliability of analysis of body fluids to detect the use of illicit drugs 
(Conclusions of 16 May 1989), 
- implementation of coordinated measures for preventing drug addiction and 
coping with drug addicts (Conclusions of 13 November 1989), 
- drug data and improvement of their qualitative and quantitative 
comparability (Resolution of 4 June 1991), 
- treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts subject to penal measures 
(Resolution of 11 November 1991), 
- creation of a framework for cooperation and Community action in the field 
of public health (Resolution of 27 May 1993). 
These various initiatives by the Health Ministers over the years have permitted the 
examination of priority questions and the launching of important joint initiatives, 
thus encouraging the emergence of a Community-wide health approach to drug 
addiction. 
Worthy of particular mention in this context are the two Commission reports on 
demand reduction in the Member States and the Community (1990 and 1992)25, 
the first European Drug Prevention Week (16-22 November 1992), the Seminar 
in Athens from 3-5 March 1994 on the management of drug addicts in prison and 
the support to the carrying out of coordinated preventive actions by, for example, 
supporting the setting up and the mangement of networks such as the European 
Foundation of "help" lines (FESAT). In addition, the adoption of the Regulation 
establishing the Monitoring Centre responds to the Member States' requirements 
for better information on demand reduction and epidemiology, the Centre's main 
priorities. These measures, in addition to having been approved by. the European 
Council and encouraged by public opinion, provide appropriate inspiration, by 
virtue of their content, their objectives and their impact, for the proposals which 
the Commission is now formulating on the basis of Article 129 of the TEU. 
3) Reducing and preventing trafficking 
The first two European Plans identified six priority areas for joint action by 
Member States to combat drug trafficking: 
1) reinforcement of drug controls at external borders; 
2) cooperation and surveillance within Community borders; 
3) combating the illicit manufacture of drugs by measures to prevent the 
diversion of precursor and other chemicals essential for such purposes; 
4) measures against the laundering of proceeds from illicit drug trafficking; 
25 Doc. Com(90) 527 Final and SEC (92) 725 Final 
39 
5) strengthening of legal and judicial systems; 
6) statistical information. 
Up until 1993 most of these activities were carried on within inter-governmental 
groups (The TREVI Group and the MAG 92 Group for activities 1 and 2; the 
specialist G7 Task Forces (CATF and FATF) for activities 3 and 4; and the 
United Nations for activity 5). However, the inter-governmental approach has now 
been augmented by Community measures in some of these areas, particularly 3 
(the precursors regulation and directive), 4 (the money-laundering directive) and 
6 (establishment of the Drugs Monitoring Centre). The main measures taken in 
these areas are outlined below. 
a) Completion of the Internal Market 
Intra-Communitv monitoring of certain substances used in the illicit manufacture 
of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances ("drug precursors") 
Council Directive 92/109/EEC of 14 December 1992 on the manufacture and the 
placing on the market of certain substances used in the illicit manufacture of 
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances26 is chiefly designed to establish intra-
Community monitoring of certain substances frequently used for the illicit 
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, with a view to 
preventing such substances being diverted from licit trade. This Directive was 
adopted on the basis of Article 100A of the EEC Treaty, in anticipation of the 
completion of the Internal Market, and complements Regulation (EEC) 
No 3677/90 on the control of international trade in precursor products. 
Classification for the supply of medicinal products for human use 
Council Directive 92/26/EEC of 31 March 1992 concerning the classification for 
the supply of medicinal products for human use27 stipulates that the competent 
authorities must specify the classification of medicinal products into: 
- medicinal products subject to medical prescription, 
- medicinal products not subject to medical prescription. 
The Council also adopted two other directives on 31 March 1992, one concerning 
the advertising of medicinal products for human use and the other concerning the 
wholesale distribution of medicinal products for human use. 
b) Control of international trade in precursors 
The 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances includes an article on precursor control (Article 12). The 
Council subsequently adopted a Community regulation which introduced a 
Community system of surveillance of exports of these products to third countries 
26 OJ L 370 of 19.12.1992, p. 76. The Annexes to this Directive were modified by Commission 
Directive 93/46/EEC of 22.6.1993. 
OJ No L 113 of 30.4.1992, p 5 
40 
(Council Regulation (EEC) No 3677/90 of 13 December 1990). This lays down 
measures to be taken to discourage the diversion of certain substances to the illicit 
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances28 (Regulation based on 
Article 113 of the EEC Treaty). This Regulation was amended in March 199229 
to incorporate the recommendations produced at international level by the 
Chemical Action Task Force (CATF) created by the Group of Seven most 
industrialised countries (G7), and was subsequently augmented by Council 
Directive 92/109/EEC of 14 December 1992, which dealt with the manufacture 
and placing on the market of precursors within the Community itself. 
c) Prevention of money laundering 
On 10 June 1991 the Council adopted the Directive on prevention of the use of 
the financial system for the purpose of money laundering30, with the aim of 
preventing and prohibiting money laundering as well as providing for penalties. 
This directive incorporates the main recommendations of the G7 FATF concerning 
the financial aspect of money laundering. 
d) The work of the TREVI Group 
The TREVI Group was created (as was CELAD later) by a European Council 
decision, namely the Rome European Council of December 1975. It was organised 
in the form of an inter-governmental satellite in the European context, its initial 
mandate being anti-terrorist cooperation. The Commission was only fully admitted 
in 1992. 
TREVI extended its activities in the mid-1980, at the instigation of Italy, to cover 
large-scale crime, including drug trafficking. This development was accompanied 
by the creation of the TREVI III Group, which was set up for this purpose and 
began with the drug trafficking problem. A second extension led to the creation 
of the TREVI 92 Group, which was charged with examining issues surrounding 
the implementation of the Single Act, including drug-related crime. The work on 
the setting up of EUROPOL and its drugs unit (EDU) represented another 
extension of the work of TREVI. This work carried out initially under the 
auspices of TREVI III, was subsequently pursued in the ad hoc EUROPOL group 
before being inserted in the institutional mechanisms of Title VI of the TEU at the 
end of 1993. The TREVI Group's work was also incorporated into the two 
European Plans to Combat Drugs. 
At the end of the 1980s, therefore, the TREVI Group was giving priority to 
combating drug trafficking, organised crime and money laundering. The 
importance of that work was also reflected by the TREVI Ministers' Declaration 
of 15 November 1989 and the Dublin Action Programme adopted in June 1990 
The following lines of action are a direct result of the TREVI Group's work on 
drugs: 
28 
29 
30 OJ No L 357 of 20.12.1990, p. 1 
OJ No L 96 of 10.4.1992, p. 1 
OJ No L 166 of 28.6.1991 
establishment of national drug information units; 
ministerial agreement on the creation of the EUROPOL Drug Unit 
(Copenhagen, 2 June 1993); 
appointment of drug liaison officers to countries outside the EEC; 
cooperation in the field of training; 
a common policy on controlled deliveries of drugs; 
a common policy on money laundering; 
creation of a network of permanent correspondents on policing techniques, 
to assist producer and transit countries; 
institution of coordinated assistance to the countries of eastern Europe to 
help them rebuild their police services. 
4) Action at international level 
Community acquis 
Having participated, on the basis of the Council Decision of 26 January 
1987, in the United Nations Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit 
Trafficking, held in Vienna in June 1987, and then in the negotiation and 
adoption of the Third International Convention against Illicit Traffic in 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (19 December 1988), the 
Community became party to this Convention on 22 October 1990 in the 
area of the Convention covered by Community competence (precursors). 
The Convention contains specific articles on precursors chemicals and 
money laundering. 
The European Community has also participated actively in the drafting and 
implementation of international drug control strategies and in the work of 
the two Task Forces created by the Group of Seven major industrial 
countries (G7) on the monitoring of chemical precursors (the CATF) and 
on money laundering (the FATF). 
The Council Decision of 26 January 1987 also paved the way for the 
Community to acquire specific instruments to provide active assistance to 
producer and/or transit countries. For example, it paved the way for the 
implementation of an important North-South cooperation programme to 
support the drug control efforts being made by developing countries 
through preventive measures, the granting of financial assistance for 
alternative development and, since 1990, through special preferential trade 
arrangements for certain countries of Andean and Central America. More 
recently, the Community introduced a new diversified action programme 
for Morroco, to support the efforts being made by that country to reduce 
canabis cultivation, to combat drug trafficking and to develop the northern 
regions (where cannabis is at present cultivated). 
The Community has also participated in the development of a Europe-wide 
drug control strategy, based on the regional dimension of the drug 
phenomenon in Europe, and drawn up at the first Pan-European Ministerial 
Conference organised under the aegis of the Council of Europe's Pompidou 
Group (Oslo, 1991). This was updated at the second Pan-European 
Ministerial Conference held in Strasbourg on 3 and 4 February 1994 under 
42 
the auspices of the Council of Europe. Based on the guidelines set out in 
the 1987 Decision, the European Community has progressively introduced 
drugs clauses and money laundering clauses into its association agreements 
with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Similar clauses will also 
be introduced into future agreements with the countries of the 
Commonwealth of Independent States. The Commission is also developing 
on this basis an active policy of operational cooperation with the countries 
of Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, notably through the 
PHARE programme. In November 1992, the Community approved a pilot 
regional drugs programme within the PHARE framework covering five 
Central and Eastern European countries. This pilot programme was 
reinforced in December 1993 by an additional programme covering a total 
of eleven countries. The Commission is looking at the possibility of 
similar actions within the TACIS framework. 
In the light of the importance of the diversion of precursors for the 
purpose of the illicit manufacture of drugs, the Community has concluded 
agreements with a number of countries considered to be sensitive. These 
countries (24 to date) have agreed to ba placed on a list of countries of 
destination to which the exportation of precursors from the Community is 
subject to control. A formal agreement at regional level covering trade 
control, administrative assistance and technical cooperation is being 
negotiated with the ASEAN countries; discussion on a similar agreement 
will soon be held with the countries of Latin America. 
Finally, the Lomé IV Convention, the framework for cooperation between 
the European Community and the ACP (African-Caribbean-Pacific) 
countries, also provides institutional and financial resources to further the 
fight against drug abuse and drug trafficking. The Commission has now 
identified the needs of the countries most affected. This will enable a more 
in-depth dialogue with the countries concerned with a view to adopting an 
operational approach in the framework of the European Development Fund 
(EDF). 
Political Cooperation 
These actions, which form a traditional part of the European Community's 
relations with its principal external partners, have been accompanied by 
intensejoint diplomatic activity by the Member States and the Commission 
in recent years vis-à-vis the main producer and transit countries, within the 
framework of 
European political cooperation (EPC), and 
the Dublin Group (an informal group providing a platform for 
consultations between CELAD - i.e. the EC Member States and the 
Commission -, the United States, Sweden, Japan, Canada, 
Australia, Norway and the UNDCP). 
ANNEX 2 
THE TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS 
CONSEQUENCES AS REGARDS DRUGS STRATEGY 
The TEU offers an opportunity to strengthen an integrated approach to the drugs 
problem bringing together as it does in a single institutional framework 
Community areas (including Public Health in accordance with Article 129), 
Cooperation in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs (Title VI) and the Common 
Foreign and Security Policy (Title V). The entry into force of the TEU therefore 
represents a significant step forward in the fight against drugs, extending the 
Community's scope for action as well as the scope for cooperation between 
Member States within the European Union. 
The particular fields and the ways in which the new powers conferred by the TEU 
are exercised differ depending on the aspect involved, and on whether it falls 
under public health, the common foreign and security policy, or cooperation in the 
fields of justice and home affairs. 
a) Drugs, a "Public Health" priority (Title II, Article 129 of the Treaty) 
Article 129 of the TEU makes the prevention of drug dependence a priority 
subject for Community action in the field of public health, with particular 
emphasis on research into its causes and consequences and on health information 
and education. Article 129(1), third paragraph, states that the requirements of drug 
dependence prevention must be taken into account in other Community policies. 
In addition, Article 129(3) stipulates that the Community and the Member States 
shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international 
organizations in the sphere of public health. In November 1993 the Commission 
forwarded to the Council and the European Parliament a communication 
concerning the framework for action in the field of public health, including the 
prevention of drug addiction. 
b) Drugs, a priority of "Cooperation in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs" 
(Title VI) 
Article K.l of the, TEU identifies certain "matters of common interest" covered 
by Title VI, the following of which, without prejudice to the competence of the 
European Community, relate to drugs: 
4) combating drug addiction in so far as this is not covered by 7) to 9), 
7) judicial cooperation in criminal matters, 
8) customs cooperation; 
9) police cooperation for the purposes of preventing and combating ... unlawful 
drug trafficking and other serious forms of international crime, including if 
necessary certain aspects of customs cooperation, in connection with the 
organisation of a Union-wide system for exchanging information within a 
European Police Office (EUROPOL)." 
On all of the points in Article K.l, including therefore those related to the fight 
against drugs, the Council may adopt "joint positions", "joint action" or 
"conventions'\ The power of initiative is shared between the Member States and 
the Commission, with the exception of points 7) to 9) where it lies exclusively 
with the Member States . 
At its first meeting, in Brussels on 29 and 30 November 1993, the Justice and 
Home Affairs Council adopted an Action Plan on Drugs, EUROPOL and money 
laundering. This plan takes up and extends the main achievements of inter­
governmental cooperation (the TREVI and MAG 92 Groups) and the main 
elements of the Community action put forward in the first two European Plans. 
c) Drugs, a priority of "the Common Foreign and Security Policy" (Title V) 
Article J.l, paragraph 2 of the TEU lays down the major objectives of the 
common foreign and security policy, which are, among others: 
- "to safeguard the common values, fundamental interests and independence of 
the Union; 
- to strengthen the security of the Union and its Member States in all ways; 
- to promote international cooperation." 
Article J.l, paragraph 3, provides that the Union will pursue these objectives by 
establishing "systematic cooperation between Member States" and by 
implementing "joint action in the areas in which the Member States have 
important interests in common". The questions to be,dealt with by joint action are 
decided by the Council, on the basis of the general guidelines adopted by the 
European Council. 
The Treaty does not actually identify drugs as a priority area of the common 
foreign and security policy. The Lisbon European Council of 26 and 27 June 1992 
(the first summit after Maastricht), however, conducted an initial examination to 
identify objectives for the future CFSP. It identified six possible specific priority 
objectives, one of which was the fight against the traffic in illicit drugs. It also 
identified the Maghreb and the Middle East as priority regions for application of 
the CFSP in the fight against drugs trafficking. 
4 5 
DRUGS BUDGETS 1987 - 1993 (ECU) 
Measures to combat 
drugs 
Budget heading: 
6472, 
B3 4302, B3 440 1987 
-
European Monitoring \ -
Centre for Drugs and j 
Drug Addiction ; 
B3 441 
North-South 
cooperation schemes 
in the context of the 
campaign against 
drug abuse 
B7 5045, B7 5080, 
949 
PHARE programme 
(countries of Central 
and Eastern Europe) 
TOTAL 5,500 000 
-
5,500.000 1988 
1^ 125.000 
5,500.000 
-
6,625.000 1989 
1,125.000 
5,500.000 
-
6,925.000 1990 
3,900.000 
-
9,800.000 
-
13,700.000 1991 
(1)5,418.000 
9,450.000 
-
14,868.000 1992 
5,973.000 
p.m. 
10,100.000 
-
16,073.000 1993 
3,300.000 
4,800.000 
13,000.000 
2,000.000 
23,100.000 TOTAL 
20,841.000 
4,800.000 
59^ 150.000 | 
i 
i 
2,000.000 
86,791.000 
including ECU I 000 000 under heading B3-100*6: Information for young people in preventing the use of dmgs 
rn 
INTERNAL CHAPTER 
Demand Reduction 
Public Health 1994 
3.3 DRUGS BUDGET (mecu) 
APB 95 
3.5 Line 
B3-440 "Measures to combat drug abuse" 
Supply Reduction 
Precursors 
Money laundering 
Title VI measures 1994 
0.83 
p.m. 
p.m. APB 95 
0.875 
p.m. 
[ 51] Line 
B3-440 "Measures to combat drug abuse" 
B5-800 "Cooperation in the field of 
Justice and Home Affairs" 
Horizontal aspects 
EMCDDA 
Multi-city networks 
Research studies 
Training 1994 
4 .8 
0.67 
p.m. APB 95 
5.0 
p.m. 
p.m. 
p.m, Line 
B3-441 "European Monitoring Centre for 
Drugs and Drug Addiction" 
B3-4103 "Measures to combat poverty" 
(for 1994 credits) New line to be 
created for 1996 
B6-622 "Indirect action projects 
Framework Programme 1994 to 1998" 
Drugs framework research programme to 
be set up 
Measures to be implemented and 
coordinated under the vertical programme 
Total amount : no breakdown yet available for the drugs envelope 
EXTERNAL CHAPTER 
1994 
North/South cooperation 10 
Phare regional drug 
programme 2 APB 95 
10 Line 
B7-5080 "North-South cooperation schemes 
in the context of the campaign against 
drug abuse" 
B7-600 "Aid for economic restructuring 
of the countries of Central and Eastern 
Europe 
c» TOTAL DRUGS BUDGET 22.6 24.375 
NUMBER OF DRUG ADDICTS 
j Member States 
1 Belgium 
1 Denmark 
J France 
| Germany 
Greece 
Ireland 
Iluly 
Luxemburg 
J Netherlands 
Portugal 
i c . 1 Spam 
t 
1 United Kingdom 
TotaJ 0*S 
[ 1989-1993 _j 
15.000-20.000 
10.000 
150.000 
80.000- 100.000 
? 
2.000 
150.000- 200.000 
1.000-1.500 
15.000-20.000 
O 
120.000 
150.000- 200.000 
693.000-823.500 CEC • 2nd report 
Demand reduction 
1992 
? 
10.000 
•150.000 
80.000 
? 
? 
150.000 
9 
21.000 
o 
7 
35.000 - 90.000 
446.000-501.000 CEC- 1st report 
Demand reduction 
1 1990 
10.000-20.000 
10.000 
100.000 
60,000-80,000 
9.000 - 13.000 
? 
? 
1,800 
20.000 
40.000 • 50.000 
? 
? 
250.800.294,800 L'Express 
(7 Oct. 1993) 
1990 
20,000 
20.000 
120,000 
100.000 
30.000 
20,000 
150,000 
2.000 
30.000 
50,000 
100.000 
100.000 
742.000 W.H.O. 
1985-1990 
0 
10.000 
120.000-150.000 
90,000- 140.000 
' 40,000 • 50.000 
3.515 
100,000-200.000 
1.200- 1.500 
22,000 - 24.000 
40.000'.50.000 
7 
? 
426.700 - 629.000 N\AD 
1990-1991 J 
15.000-20.000 
10.000 
150.000 
100.000-250.000 
10,000-20.000 
2,000 
150,000-200.000 
1.000-1.500 
22,000 
40.000 • 50,000 
120.000 
150.000-200.000 
770.000- 1.045.500 CD 
> 
CO 
CO 
—I 
> 
2 m 
X 
DRUG SEIZURES (in kgs) 
"9?r,tt SiiUt 
1 
] 
j 3« \<j ium 
j D«r..-.«rk 
i 
C * l m • n y 
CtMCI 
! ( o '. * r>1 
\'.ilf 
'.K> CnOOUC9 
f'o: -. mj« i 
S3i. •. 
'.n ; I «.tf l.in7<10B> 
Tsi« ! j 
Mu 1 1 1 • C l t 1 u ) UuO( 
Pompidou Croup 
1191 
7 
30 
Hi 
!.49« 
? 
0.! 
1.041 
? 
(Oil 
6; 
>• i 
440 
t.aew MTROtX 
Interpol 
m? 
181 
3) 
n? 
i. m 
H 1 
o m 
998 
6 
?66 
)l 
4?» 
41 1 
4.448 ccc 
199? 
80 
ie 
14) 
i.io 
121 
0.24 
m 
».; 
16 
i 
198 
• If 
MS) MAC 
199? 
80 
18 
146 
1 . H ) 
1?) 
0.24 
49? 
6. ) 
36 
) 
194 
449 
2.802 MuUl-ciUt» study 
Pompidou Croup 
1991 
t 
747 
831 
96) 
7 
0 
no 
i 
2,288 
1.094 
1.J1I 
1.018 
14,478 COCAINE 
Inttrpol 
1992 
1,1(0 
20 
1,322 
1,041 
4 
6 
1,221 
10 
2,129 
1,828 
3.114 
2.436 
14.314 CCC 
1992 
1,261 
14 
1,204 
744 
2.6 
2.) 
300 
11 
121 
lt& 
2.4)4 
2,21)0 
9,070 MAC 
1992 
1,261 
14 
1,278 
1,02$ 
2.6 
2.) 
441 
11 
721 
Hi 
2.432 
2,240 
9,66) MuUI-cllU> Jludy 
Pompidou Croup 
1991 
7 
• 76 
21,040 
12,34) 
7 
1,174 
6.070 
i 
84,292 
7,744 
194,700 
26,000 
)44.)49 CAKHAOH 
Interpol 
1992 
12,048 
2.044 
)8,0<) 
3,047 
2,986 
63) 
17.792 
7 
4,446 
1,647 
99.242 
42.691 
224.748 CCC 
I9V2 
4,968 
1,670 
30.248 
1.4)7 
2,840 
380 
34 
)0 
24.082 
306 
76,111 
44.441 
19).661 MAC 
1992 
4,966 
1.670 
30,749 
3.41? 
2,840 
380 
7.147 
31 
21.083 
t 
76.064 
44.441 
196,010 vyi 
O 
I HEROIN 
(SOURCE: Interpol) 
USA 
Germany 
Belgium 
Denmark 
Spain 
France 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
United 
Kingdom 
Total EC 
(approx. ) 1987 
501 kg* 
319 kg 
140 kg 
13 kg 
412 kg 
106 kg 
73 kg 
0 kg 051 
323 kg 
0 kg 317 
517 kg 
29 kg 
31 kg 
1 963 kg 1988 
140 kg* 
537 kg 
113 kg 
25 kg 
479 kg 
.221 kg 
72 kg 
0 kg443 
576 kg 
14 kg 
441 kg 
3 3 kg 
247 kg 
2 158 kg 1989 
816 kg* 
727 kg 
80 kg 
34 kg 
713 kg 
302 kg 
42 kg 
0 kg 398 
685 kg 
0 kg 5 
4 81 kg 
60 kg 
348 kg 
-Î 412 kg 1990 
168 kg 
844 kg 
288 kg 
26 kg 
887 kg 
320 kg 
35 kg 
0 kg 162 
900 kg 
0 kg 1 
532 kg 
19 kg 
608 kg 
4 459 kg 1991 
1 428 kg 
1 594 kg 
185 kg 
34 kg 
741 kg 
476 kg 
272 kg 
-
1 041 kg 
9 kg 
406 kg 
61 kg 
450 kg 
5 269 kg 1992 
1 245 kg 
1 426 kg 
184 kg 
33 kg 
670 kg 
323 kg 
165 kg 
0 kg 162 
1 330 kg 
7 kg 
543 kg 
54 kg 
510 kg 
5 245 kg 
Federal totals 
j 
COCAINE (powder) 
(SOURCE: Interpol) 
USA 
Germany 
Belgium 
Denmark 
Spain 
France 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
United 
Kingdom 
Total EC 
(approx. ) 1987 
43 254 kg 
295 kg 
269 kg 
25 kg 
1 133 kg 
749 kg 
2 6 kg 
0 kg 030 
326 kg ' 
22 kg 
405 kg 
222 kg 
54 kg 
3 526 kg 1988 
58 640 kg 
496 kg 
403 kg 
9 kg 
3 461 kg 
584 kg 
6 kg 
0 kg 044 
619 kg 
4 kg 
517 kg 
301 kg 
308 kg 
6 108 kg 1989 
80 894 kg 
1 405 kg 
89 kg 
54 kg 
1 838 kg 
926 kg 
2 kg 
3 kg 
667 kg 
21 kg 
1 393 kg 
793 kg 
537 -kg 
7 128 kg 1990 
74 301 kg 
2 473 kg 
538 kg 
28 kg 
5 252 kg 
1 840 kg 
33 kg 
1 kg 
801 kg 
23 kg 
4 288 kg 
360 kg 
470 kg 
(?) 
16 101 kg 1991 
101 802 kg 
963 kg 
756 kg 
39 kg 
7 561 kg 
831 kg 
13 kg 
0 kg 031 
1 298 kg 
14 kg 
2 492 kg 
1 096 kg 
1 086 kg 
16 149 kg 1992 
68 821 kg 
1 331 kg 
1 221 kg 
21 kg 
4 414 kg 
1 025 kg 
9 kg 
10 kg 
1 377 kg 
11 kg 
3 433 kg 
1 893 kg 
2 266 kg 
27 Oil kg 
DRUG SEIZURES IN 1992 
(Source iCPO-Interpol) 
HEROIN 
Total worldwide: 12 3SS Kg 988 
Europe: 6 060 Kg 982 
COCAINE 
Total worldwide: 48 021 Kg 672 
Europe: 14 8S2 Kg 140 
CANNABIS 
Total worldwide: 476 490 Kg 397 
Europe: 239 965 Kg 094 
53 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(94) 234 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 05 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-94-268-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-70387-3 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
Lr2985 Luxembourg