ACPOS DRUGS CONFERENCE 2004

1
ACPOS DRUGS CONFERENCE 2004

• The Brussels Agenda on Tackling Drugs, including
  the Synthetics Implementation Plan

Jonathan Sweet Counsellor (Justice and Home
Affairs) UK Permanent Representation to the EU 4
March 2004
2
SETTING THE SCENE (1)

• What is UKRep?
• The UK Permanent Representation to the European
  Union (UKRep) represents the UKs interests in
  the EU
• UKRep acts as the interface between the UK Govt
  and the Brussels machinery (the European
  Commission, the European Parliament and the
  Council of Ministers)

3
SETTING THE SCENE (2)

• Majority of the 140-odd staff are civil servants
  drawn from a wide range of British Government
  Departments
• The Counsellor (JHA) heads a team of half a dozen
  desk officers covering all aspects of the justice
  and home affairs agenda (civil and criminal law,
  policing, drugs, organised crime, terrorism,
  immigration and asylum)

4
SETTING THE SCENE (3)

• DRUGS - THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
• A global problem. UN Office on Drugs and Crime
  (UNDOC) Report on Global Illicit Drugs Trends
  2003 notes that
• In 2000-2001, about 15 million people world-wide
  abused opium and heroin and 14 million cocaine
• UNDOC estimates that about 200 million people
  consume illicit drugs (including 163 million for
  cannabis)

5
SETTING THE SCENE (4)

• A WHO official noted recently that there were 10
  million drug users world-wide injecting and that
  illicit drugs caused 1-2 million deaths annually
• Expansion of the amphetamine-type stimulants
  (ATS) market is continuing. Global ATS seizures
  (excluding ecstasy) were four times as high in
  2001 as in 1995 and eight times as high as in
  1990

6
SETTING THE SCENE (5)

• DRUGS - THE EU CONTEXT
• The EMCDDA Annual Report for 2003 notes that
• Cannabis remains the most commonly used drug in
  the EU, followed by ecstasy and amphetamine
• No common trend in the number of problematic drug
  users in the EU can be observed, although studies
  suggest that in at least half (existing) EU
  Member States, some increase has been observed
  since the mid-1990s

7
SETTING THE SCENE (6)

• Europol estimates that up to 90 of heroin seized
  within the EU originates from Afghanistan
• In the Accession States, the highest lifetime
  prevalence among 16yr olds for ecstasy and
  amphetamines is in Latvia (6), followed by
  Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovenia (4
  each)

8
SETTING THE SCENE (7)

• Tackling drugs a top priority for the EU
• Continued high levels of drug misuse, drug
  trafficking and damage caused to societies
  through drug related crime, health problems and
  social exclusion evident from the work of EMCDDA
  and Europol
• Early focus at EU level on an essentially
  repressive approach - in the context of
  development of an area of freedom, security and
  justice
• More recently a balanced strategy focused on
  demand (including harm) reduction, supply
  reduction and international action

9
THE EU ACTION PLANON DRUGS 2000-2004 (1)

• Adopted by the European Council in Feira
  (Portugal) in June 2000
• Has three main aims
• to provide a guide to all actions in the EU when
  setting priorities in the drugs area
• to ensure that drugs receive the necessary high
  level of support and
• to provide a solid base for the evaluation of the
  EU drugs strategy

10
THE EU ACTION PLANON DRUGS 2000-2004 (2)

• Action plan is divided into five sections
• Co-ordination
• Information and evaluation
• Drug demand reduction and prevention of drug use
  and drug related crime
• Supply reduction
• International co-operation

11
HOW DO THE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS FIT IN?

• EU action plan good at setting general aims/broad
  direction
• But difficult to translate into practical
  concrete action because
• Vague as to methods and timelines
• Did not set clear priorities
• e.g. no distinction between the kinds of action
  and resources the EU should devote to tackle
  cannabis trafficking and the resources needed to
  tackle synthetic drugs
• Council therefore agreed to a mid-term review of
  the EU Drugs Action Plan

12
MID-TERM REVIEW

• Driven forward by the Danish Presidency in 2002
  (UK very active in pushing agenda forward with
  them)
• Copenhagen European Council agreed a strategy
  based on the following elements
• Attention to be focused on key substances -
  heroin, cocaine/crack-cocaine, synthetic drugs
• Future EU action on drugs to be evidence based
  and guided by target dates, defined
  responsibilities and measurable activities
• Implementation papers covering those elements to
  be prepared by the Presidency/European Commission
  in each of the focus areas by spring 2003

13
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS (1)

• First such paper
• Six basic themes, underpinned by a number of
  action points
• Action to tackle the supply of precursors
  Action to tackle illicit laboratories
• Action to tackle illicit chemists Action to
  tackle distribution networks
• Action to tackle distribution of synthetic drugs
  at street level
• Action with regard to production and distribution
  outside the EU

14
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS (2)

• Much of the operational follow-up falls to
  Europol
• Legal instrument to be adopted on establishment
  of a European database on precursors - if
  appropriate Europol
• Europol to ensure an effective framework for
  disseminating strategic and tactical information
  on illicit laboratories to law enforcement
  authorities

15
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS (3)

• Europol to identify operations to be undertaken
  against illicit chemists
• Europol to conduct an assessment of the general
  threat to the EU posed by synthetic drug
  production and distribution in the candidate
  countries. Aim to identify the current and
  future involvement of organised crime groups and
  the structure of such groups

16
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS (4)

• Overall, the plan has
• Raised the profile of action to tackle synthetic
  drugs
• Encouraged and supported projects like the UK-led
  European Joint Unit on precursors at Europol and
  the French led Synthese-Lab Project
• Shifted the focus very much to concrete action

17
THE FUTURE?

• Synthetics implementation plan one (key) element
  in EUs overall drugs strategy
• Feeds into wider implementation plan on demand
  and supply reduction adopted under the Greek
  Presidency last year
• Likely to influence overall approach to the next
  EU action plan, which should
• have fewer, but better prioritised, objectives
• work to shorter timeframes
• to be more responsive e.g. to the rise in
  production in synthetic drugs within the EU and
  Accession States

18
CONCLUSION (1)

• FUNDAMENTAL POLICY CHOICES
• General strategic issue for drug policy whether
  to pursue a prohibitionist approach or view the
  problem as a public health issue
• True at international, EU and domestic level

19
CONCLUSION (2)

• At a recent conference, the Principal Drug
  Adviser to the Belgian Prime Minister called for
  a more uniform, pragmatic EU policy based on
  public health policy, arguing that the
  traditional criminal sanction system has reached
  its limits
• Raymond Kendall, Honorary Secretary-General of
  Interpol, noted that international drug policy
  is in a rut

20
CONCLUSION (3)

• How far should we be aiming for harmonisation at
  EU level?
• Cappato, MEP, has described current policy as a
  sort of harmonisation for the worst
• Others, like Commissioner Vitorino, have argued
  that the EU has a role to play in
• (i) dealing with cross-border issues like drug
  trafficking
• (ii) developing institutional capacities for a
  coordinated drug policies
• (iii) coordinating evaluation of the drug
  problem across the EU
• No easy answer but, in short term at least,
  primary responsibility for tackling illegal drugs
  likely to remain at national level