Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the Council 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}
Date: 2008-09-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: action programme, cooperation policy, drug addiction, drug traffic, fight against crime, impact study, international cooperation

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 18.9.2008 
SEC(2008) 2454 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Accompanying the  

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 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} 

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1.1. 

Introduction 

Executive Summary 

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  general  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 organised an ex-post evaluation to assess its impact 
and  with  a  view  to  proposing  a  new  EU  Drugs  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 consulted with different 
groups of key stakeholders. Apart from continuous consultation and exchange of information 
with the Council's Horizontal Drugs Group (HDG), broad input from Commission services on 
this  impact  assessment  was  ensured  through  the  establishment  of  an  Inter  Service  Steering 
Group (ISSG). A Steering Group was established for 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 number of objectives and 
actions  are  implemented  only  at  EU  level,  i.e.  through  Commission  activities.  The  Action 
Plan provides guidance to national drug policy level, 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 (2005-2008) shows that its objectives have been 
translated in national policy, and/ or were already reflected in existing policy documents. The 
evaluation  suggests  that  the  Action  Plan  has  initiated  a  broad  range  of  activities  and 
cooperation.  On  practically  all  the  specific  objectives  and  actions  progress  has  been  made, 
though with varying degrees of success. The evaluation also identified 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 prioritisation between them.  

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CORDROGUE 77, 22.11.2004 
OJ C 168, 8.7.2005 

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Coordination  within  the  Commission  on  implementing  the  Action  Plan  could  be  improved, 
among other things by setting clearer priorities and by improving the 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. Furthermore, 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 provided 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  trend  but  existing  instruments  such  as  Joint 
Investigation Teams and Joint Customs Organisations are not used to the full extent. There is 
also substantial room for improving Member States contributions to the activities of Europol, 
e.g.  in  information  sharing  and  intelligence  gathering  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  basis  for  enhanced  intelligence-led  law  enforcement.  The  Drug 
Strategy's objective to make supply reduction and law enforcement output better measurable 
and more accountable, is complicated by a lack of availability of standardised 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  particular  in  the  United  Nations'  Commission  of 
Narcotic Drugs (CND), but further efforts should be made to ensure 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  Countries  as  well  as  for  many  Neighbourhood  Policy 
Countries in developing their national drug strategies and action plans.  

A  great  number  of  assistance  projects  with  candidate,  stabilisation  and  association  process 
countries  have  been  supported  in  recent  years.  At  the  same  time,  external  funding 
programmes and projects of both EC and the Member States should be linked more explicitly 
to  the  priorities  of  EU  drug  policy.  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 situation in Europe has improved in recent years, 
but  that  further  steps  might  be  considered  to  bring  about  greater  coordination  and 
complementarity between research and research funding structures at national and EU level. 
Potential  diminishing  support  from  national  governments  to  National  Focal  Points  is  an 
increasing cause for concern as these are the backbone of the information infrastructure of the 
EMCDDA. The need for evaluation of drug policies continues to be of great importance.  

1.3. 

Current state-of-play 

In  the  EU,  cannabis  remains  the  most  commonly  consumed  illicit  drug,  with  17.5  million 
Europeans using the substance last year. Cocaine was used by 4.5 million Europeans last year 

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and  has  grown  dramatically  in  some  Member  States,  while  ecstasy  use  seems  to  have 
moderately  decreased  overall.  The  use  of  heroin  and  drug  injecting  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 inhabitants are problem drug users. Between 7 
500  and  8  000  drug-related  deaths  occur  every  year.  An  estimated  100  000  –  200  000 
Europeans  who  have  injected  drugs  in  their  lifetime  live  with  HIV  and  around  one  million 
with Hepatitis C. The risk of infection is particularly high in particular 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 drug 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  routes  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 into Italy or Slovenia. The route via Ukraine and Romania is also 
gaining  importance.  Three  main  sea  routes  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 America to Western Africa and from there 
to Portugal and Spain. The European Union is a major production region for synthetic drugs, 
in particular amphetamines 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  levels  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  represented  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 the drugs field and drug legislation is primarily 
a  matter  of  national  competence.  However,  the  Treaties  explicitly  acknowledge  the  need  to 
deal with drug issues at EU level, in particular in the fields of justice and home affairs3 and 
public  health4.  The  EU  Drug  Strategy  (2005-2012)  was  drafted  under  the  current  legal 
framework provided by the EU and EC Treaties, based on the respective competences of the 

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Title VI articles 29 and 31(1)e TEU 
Article 152 TEC 

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Union,  Community  and  individual  Member  States,  with  due  regard  to  subsidiarity  and 
proportionality. 

The  evaluation  of  the  EU  Action  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, resulting in greater coherence and convergence of 
drug policies between countries on a voluntary basis. It also provides 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 national strategies and 
action plans across the EU.  

Many Member States indicated that the EU Action Plan has been important for international 
cooperation  and  that  the  EU  has  gained  influence  in  the  international  arena  in  the  field  of 
drugs due to the fact that it can work on the basis 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, monitoring, evaluation and information has been 
an  important  added  value  for  national  drug  policies,  resulting  in  greater  attention  to 
effectiveness and efficiency at national level 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  and  priorities  as  defined  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 objectives and actions in a new Action Plan or to examine each 
of the 30 or more conclusions as identified 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 the report, the overall strategy objectives for the 
key dimensions drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction and well as for the cross-
cutting  themes,  coordination,  international  cooperation  and  information,  research  and 
evaluation,  are  then  presented.  Two  examples  of  operational  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 identified, no indicators for implementation are 
developed and no deadlines for actions are set.  

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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 for 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  together  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 lacking impetus and dynamism. The EU Drugs Strategy 
(2005-2012)  would  remain  valid,  but  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 framework 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 would not specifically address new developments 
and  trends.  The  lack  of  an  updated  common  framework  for  action  could  lead  to  reduced 
visibility and priority for the drug issue at EU and Member States level. This option could be 
considered a safe bet as objectives and 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  Action  Plan  that  takes  on  board  new  insights  and 
challenges.  Therefore  option  2  is  not  recommendable.  A  new  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 carried out in 2012. 

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EMCDDA and Europol will continue producing reports 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.  

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