WRITTEN QUESTION E-2652/98

by Friedhelm Frischenschlager (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 September 1998)

Subject: EU drugs policy

The debate about the European Union's future drugs policy is currently taking place at many different levels, with widely differing arguments being put forward. The Austrian Council Presidency has taken up the subject and will address it at length in the context of a conference in Vienna this autumn.

The archaic law-and-order approach, which is characterised by exclusively criminal, police and military measures to combat drugs (even soft drugs) increasingly appears to be giving way to a modern, problem-solving policy which puts the accent on therapy and medical treatment for drug addicts, on reducing crime associated with, or committed in the pursuit of, drugs, and on combating poverty in the producer countries. A great deal of uncertainty nonetheless still clouds the debate about reform relating to the subject of drugs, and this is largely attributable to an assessment of the effectiveness of the policy pursued to date being either non-existent or non-objective.

Is the Commission aware of studies concerning the amount of money spent by the individual EU Member States on police action to combat drug trafficking (soft/hard drugs) or, where applicable, on military measures? Is it aware of comparable studies relating to the United States?

Do such data indicate a link between the amount of money spent on combating drug trafficking and the number of drug addicts, measured as a percentage of the total population? In countries in which drug trafficking (soft/hard drugs) is countered by repressive police measures, is there less or more drug-related crime than in other countries?

Is the Commission aware of any reports, studies, etc. about the consequential social costs (unemployment, marginalisation, homelessness, Aids, etc.) entailed by policies which are geared solely or mainly to police measures to combat drugs?

Answer given by Ms Gradin on behalf of the Commission

(21 October 1998)

The Commission has no detailed information on the amount of money spent by the Member States on enforcing drugs laws.

However, one of the priority objectives in the 1998-2000 work programme of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction is the development of instruments and methods to improve the comparability of the data needed for a better assessment of cost-effectiveness. For the first time, the Monitoring Centre's 1998 annual report on the drugs phenomenon in the Union contained a new chapter analysing public expenditure on fighting drugs. The Centre produced a table comparing France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, which showed that spending on law-enforcement in the three European countries accounted for 68 %-80 % of the total, against 93 % in the United States, with preventive measures taking up the remaining 20 %-32 % in the European countries and 7 % in the United States. The percentage of GDP spent on anti-drugs measures ranged from 0,06 % to 0,09 % in the European countries, against 0,16 % for the United States. However, due care must be taken with these figures as the statistical data on which they are based have not yet been harmonised.