EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 18.9.2008 
SEC(2008) 2454 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
 
Accompanying the  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSI ON TO THE CO UNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
 
On an EU Action Plan on Drugs (2009-2012) 
 
SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  
{COM(2008) 567} 
{SEC(2008) 2455} {SEC(2008) 2456} 
 
EN 2   EN Executive Summary  
1.1. Introduction 
This impact assessment is intended to determine the most appropriate policy option to 
implement the EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012)1. The Strategy aims to protect public health 
and to protect and improve the well-being of society and of the individual as well as to 
guarantee a high level of security for the ge neral public by taking a balanced, integrated 
approach to the drugs problem. The Strategy sets the framework, objectives and priorities for 
drug-related activities in the EU, to be implemented and is implemented through two 
consecutive EU Drug Action Plans.  A first EU Drugs Plan (2005-2008)2 was adopted in 2005. 
In the first half of 2008 the Commission organi sed an ex-post evaluati on to assess its impact 
and with a view to proposing a new EU Dr ugs Action Plan (2009-2012). This impact 
assessment is based to a great extent  on the results of the evaluation.  
For the evaluation and this impact assessment,  the Commission has cons ulted with different 
groups of key stakeholders. Apart from continuous  consultation and exchange of information 
with the Council's Hori zontal Drugs Group (HDG), broad in put from Commission services on 
this impact assessment was ensured through the establishment of an Inter Service Steering 
Group (ISSG). A Steering Group was established fo r expert consultation prior to and during 
the evaluation process of the EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008). In two separate sessions the 
Commission consulted its Civil Society Forum on Drugs. No open consultation was organised 
for this impact assessment, mainly for reasons of time constraints.  
1.2. Problem Definition 
The EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012) and the EU  Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008) have been 
developed around the two main dimensions of drug policy, drug demand reduction and drug 
supply reduction , complemented by three cross-cutting themes, coordination , international 
cooperation and information, research and evaluation .  
The Action Plan is a non-binding coordination instrument primarily for Member States, which 
are independent in implementing its aims and objectives. A limited num ber of objectives and 
actions are implemented only at EU level,  i.e. through Commission activities. The Action 
Plan provides guidance to national drug policy leve l, but also makes the assessment of direct 
impacts of the plan more complicated as most  objectives and actions in the Action Plan are 
implemented indirectly: the Action Plan aims  to influence the actions of others.  
The evaluation of the EU Drugs Action Plan (2 005-2008) shows that its objectives have been 
translated in national policy, a nd/ or were already reflected in existing policy documents. The 
evaluation suggests that the Ac tion Plan has initiated a br oad range of activities and 
cooperation. On practically al l the specific objectives and actions progress has been made, 
though with varying degrees of su ccess. The evaluation also iden tified a number of important 
problems. The Action Plan suffers from a number of internal inconsistencies as well as from a 
large number of objectives and actions, and the lack of pr ioritisation between them.  
                                                 
1 CORDROGUE 77, 22.11.2004 
2 OJ C 168, 8.7.2005 
 
EN 3   EN Coordination  within the Commission on implementi ng the Action Plan could be improved, 
among other things by setting clearer priori ties and by improving th e communication on EU 
drug policy objectives across policy fields.  
In the field of drug demand reduction , only a few Member States  have introduced general 
quality guidelines for prevention, harm reduction and treatment. Furtherm ore, emphasis needs 
to be placed on improving the effectiveness, accessibility, availability and coverage of 
treatment and harm reduction services. Member States also need to invest in adapting/ 
adjusting to new trends in treatment demand. The provision of prevention, harm reduction and 
treatment for inmates comparable to services pr ovided outside prisons, is of great importance 
to reduce drug-related infectious diseases and drug-related deaths, the prevalence rates of 
which are considerably higher within  the prison system than outside. 
In the field of drug supply reduction , law enforcement cooperation in the field of drugs 
between Member States shows an increasing tr end but existing instruments such as Joint 
Investigation Teams and Joint Customs Organisati ons are not used to the full extent. There is 
also substantial room for improving Member Stat es contributions to th e activities of Europol, 
e.g. in information sharing and intelligence ga thering through closer coordination between 
law enforcement agencies at national level. Positive results of recent cross-border law 
enforcement projects (e.g. MAOC-N), shows the importance of strengthening intelligence 
gathering and sharing as a basi s for enhanced intelligence-l ed law enforcement. The Drug 
Strategy's objective to make supply reduction a nd law enforcement output better measurable 
and more accountable, is complicated by a lack of availability of sta ndardised key indicators 
in this area.  
In the field of international cooperation , according to the Member States, the Action Plan has 
been important in achieving EU coherence and consensus at international level. The EU has 
increasingly been acting in unison, in part icular in the United Nations' Commission of 
Narcotic Drugs (CND), but further efforts should be made to ensu re that the EU speaks with 
one voice in the CND plenary meetings. The EU's  integrated and balanced approach on drugs 
has served as a model for Candidate Countri es as well as for many Neighbourhood Policy 
Countries in developing th eir national drug strategi es and action plans.  
A great number of assistance projects with ca ndidate, stabilisation and association process 
countries have been supported in recent ye ars. At the same time, external funding 
programmes and projects of both EC and the Memb er States should be linked more explicitly 
to the priorities of EU drug pol icy. Emerging drug trafficking routes ask for flexible and 
broad cooperation with countries  in affected regions.  
Where information, research and evaluation  is concerned, the evaluation concludes that the 
quality of information available on the drug situa tion in Europe has improved in recent years, 
but that further steps might be considered  to bring about great er coordination and 
complementarity between research and research funding structures at national and EU level. 
Potential diminishing support from national g overnments to National Focal Points is an 
increasing cause for concern as these are the bac kbone of the information infrastructure of the 
EMCDDA. The need for evaluation of drug policie s continues to be of great importance.  
1.3. Current state-of-play 
In the EU, cannabis remains the most co mmonly consumed illicit drug, with 17.5 million 
Europeans using the substance last year. Cocaine  was used by 4.5 million Europeans last year 
 
EN 4   EN and has grown dramatically in some Member  States, while ecstasy use seems to have 
moderately decreased overall. The use of heroin and drug inje cting appear generally stable. 
The decreasing age of first use among young people as well as the increase in poly-drug use 
poses major challenges to prevention and treatment. 
In the EU between 1 and 8 out of every 1.000 i nhabitants are problem drug users. Between 7 
500 and 8 000 drug-related deaths occur ev ery year. An estimated 100 000 – 200 000 
Europeans who have injected drugs in thei r lifetime live with HIV and around one million 
with Hepatitis C. The risk of infection is part icularly high in particul ar circumstances, where 
needle sharing is common, e.g. in prisons. In 2005, 21 EU countries reported 326 000 new 
clients entering drug treatment. About 525 000 dr ug users are on substitution treatment in the 
EU. 
The production, manufacture and trafficking of drugs remain amongst the primary activities 
of organised crime networks operating towards and within the European Union. There is a growing diversification in the trafficking r outes to the EU and in EU drug production and 
entry points, with large-scale intra-EU trafficking. 
Key corridors are used for the trafficking of opiates to the EU, starting in Afghanistan and 
crossing the central Asian States. Most heroin reaches Western Europe via the Balkan Routes , 
starting in Turkey but there is an increasing use of the central Balkan Route  from Turkey, 
through the Balkan States in to Italy or Slovenia. The route via Ukraine and Romania  is also 
gaining importance. Three main sea rout es to Europe exist for cocaine. The northern route 
runs from the Caribbean via the Azores to Portugal and Spain. The central route  runs from 
South America via Cape Verde or Madeira and the Canary Islands to Europe. More recently, 
the African route  has emerged, running from South Ameri ca to Western Africa and from there 
to Portugal and Spain. The Europe an Union is a major production  region for synthetic drugs, 
in particular amphetamine s and MDMA (ecstasy).  
Drug seizures have stabilised in recent years, except for cocaine, which has seen significant 
increases. Nevertheless street prices corrected for inflation declined  for all drugs mentioned 
above over the period 2000–2006, while potency leve ls remained stable or declined for 
cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine.  
The abuse of illicit drugs comes with considerable  social costs to EU Member States. A recent 
EMCDDA survey, reporting information from six EU Member States showed that public 
expenditure on drugs represente d 0.05% to 0.46% of the GDP of  these countries. Based on 
these reports, the EMCDDA estimates that total drug-related public expenditure in the 27 EU Member States and Norway is between EUR 13 and 36 billion annually, representing up to 
0.33% of the GDP of EU Member States.  
1.4. Subsidiarity and added value 
The EU Member States are the main actors in th e drugs field and drug le gislation is primarily 
a matter of national competence. However, the Treaties explicitly acknowledge the need to deal with drug issues at EU level, in particul ar in the fields of justice and home affairs
3 and 
public health4. The EU Drug Strategy (2005-2012) was drafted under th e current legal 
framework provided by the EU and EC Treaties,  based on the respective competences of the 
                                                 
3 Title VI articles 29 and 31(1)e TEU 
4 Article 152 TEC 
 
EN 5   EN Union, Community and individual Member States, with due re gard to subsidiarity and 
proportionality. 
The evaluation of the EU Ac tion Plan on Drugs (2005-2008) shows that practically all 
Member States consider that there is an added value in having an Action Plan on Drugs at EU 
level. Member States indicate that the Action Plan provides clear European-level objectives 
and guidance for setting national priorities, resu lting in greater cohere nce and convergence of 
drug policies between countries on a voluntary basis. It also pr ovides guidance for sharing of 
best practice and the development of common standards on many key areas for both drug 
demand and drug supply reduction. The Action Plan provides a comprehensive drug policy framework, and has encouraged the development of  broad, high quality na tional strategies and 
action plans across the EU.  
Many Member States indicated that the EU Acti on Plan has been important for international 
cooperation and that the EU has gained influen ce in the international arena in the field of 
drugs due to the fact that it can work on the ba sis of the consensus reflected in the Strategy 
and Action Plan. The EU Action Plan plays an important role in presenting the European 
model for drug policy, with a balanced approach  and fundamental rights as its cornerstones. 
The focus on evidence-based policy-making, mon itoring, evaluation and information has been 
an important added value for national drug po licies, resulting in greater attention to 
effectiveness and efficiency at national leve l and in identifying and comparing trends.  
1.5. Objectives 
As the EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012) remains the overarching policy for the development of 
a new EU Action Plan on Drugs, the objectives a nd priorities as defi ned in the Strategy 
remain valid. The EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008) included 46 objectives and 86 
operational actions. It would go beyond the bounds and constraints of this impact assessment 
to consider all potential new obj ectives and actions in a new Ac tion Plan or to examine each 
of the 30 or more conclusions as id entified in the problem definition.  
By way of an alternative, this impact assessment focuses on a limited number of conclusions 
from the evaluation in terms of potential new operational objectives. The perceived impact of 
the action plan as a whole as well as the impact  of each of the selected examples are analysed 
for each of the policy options. In section 3 of th e report, the overall strategy objectives for the 
key dimensions drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction and we ll as for the cross-
cutting themes, coordination, international cooperation and information, research and 
evaluation, are then presented.  Two examples of operationa l objectives for each overall 
strategy objective have been worked out.  
1.6. Identification and assessment of policy options 
Due to the existence overarching and ongoing  EU Drug Strategy (2005-2012) none of the 
options presented will lead to major policy shifts. For this impact assessment, six policy options were considered. The following three were considered feasible.  
Option 1 - Do nothing (baseline scenario): Under this option, no Action Plan for the 
implementation of the latter half of the EU  Drugs Strategy (2005- 2012) is proposed. The 
Strategy will continue to provide a general framework for drug-related activities in the EU 
but no operational objectives or actions are id entified, no indicators for implementation are 
developed and no deadlines for actions are set.  
 
EN 6   EN Option 2 - The EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008) is renewed for another four-year 
period: This option entails that the EU Action Plan on Drugs (2005-2008) will be renewed. 
Ongoing actions will be continued. Completed actions will be removed. No new actions are 
added. 
Option 3.2 - A detailed EU Drugs Action Plan (2009-2012) is presented, covering 
operational objectives and actions at EU and Member State level. This option builds on 
the main lessons from the final evaluation of the EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008). The 
proposal for a new and detailed Action Plan fo r both the EU and Member State level will take 
on board the evaluation findings and can adapt to  the latest changes and most recent insights 
regarding the EU drug situation. 
1.7. Analysis and comparison of impacts 
The assumption underpinning the Drugs Strategy and its Action Plans is that an integrated and 
multidisciplinary policy approach, bringing toge ther different fields of drug policy and 
implementing multiple objectives at the same time,  will lead to synergies and greater impact.  
The comparison of the options shows that the selection of option 1 , the baseline scenario, 
would lead to drug policy at EU level lacki ng impetus and dynamism. The EU Drugs Strategy 
(2005-2012) would remain valid, bu t without any Action Plan to  continue implementing it, 
policy actions would be mostly ad-hoc, lacking coherence and not taking on board new trends 
and developments in the drug situation. The lack  of an EU policy fram ework may increase the 
divergence between national policies, while at EU level activities would be limited to existing 
competences and programmes.  
Option 2 would mean that flaws and shortcomings  in the existing EU Drugs Action Plan 
(2005-2008) would not be dealt with and it woul d not specifically address new developments 
and trends. The lack of an updated common fr amework for action could lead to reduced 
visibility and priority for the drug issue at EU and Member Stat es level. This option could be 
considered a safe bet as objectives a nd actions have already been agreed.  
The selection of option 3.2  would result in attention for the problems identified in the 
evaluation of the EU Drugs Action Plan (2005- 2008). A new Action Plan could take on board 
changes that have emerged in recent years, and change the focus of the objectives in the Action Plan so that actions can become more effective and measurable. This option would be 
more in line with EU Drugs Strategy which explicitly foresees two consecutive EU Action 
Plans on Drugs with the aim of translating and implementing its objectives.  
In short, option 1  would represent a step backwards. The evaluation clearly shows that there is 
a need for a more concise, prioritised Acti on Plan that takes on board new insights and 
challenges. Therefore option 2  is not recommendable. A ne w EU Action Plan on Drugs 
(2009-2012) as presented in option 3.2  offers such possibilities and is therefore the preferred 
option.  
1.8. Monitoring and evaluation 
The new Action Plan as described in option 3.2  will provide an indicator and a timeframe for 
each action and designate the parties responsible  for its implementation. The Commission will 
continue to prepare annual Progress Reviews.  An overall evaluation of the EU Drugs Action 
Plan (2009-2012) and the EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012) will be ca rried out in 2012. 
 
EN 7   EN EMCDDA and Europol will continue producing re ports on the state of the drugs problem for 
their areas of competence. The proposed new Action Plan will place specific emphasis on 
improving the measurability of policy impacts on the drug situation and propose indicators for 
the supply reduction and law enforcement.