Explanatory note on data

• Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EU body or agency), Europol (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 11-11

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Explanatory note on data

is report utilises data from multiple sources. Primarily it includes data and information

reported to the EMCDDA and Europol. e EMCDDA data presented in this report are

based on annual data collection using standardised reporting tools by the EMCDDA via its

network of 30 national focal points across the 28 EU Member States (as of August 2019),

Norway and Turkey. Unless otherwise stated, data presented in this report relate to the 28

EU Member States and 2017 data year. EU+2 denotes data for the EU Member States,

Norway and Turkey. Where lists of countries are not in alphabetical order, they are in order

of importance. e analyses presented here are also informed by open source information,

including an EMCDDA database of reports of individual seizures identied through an

ongoing monitoring programme. ere are sometimes inconsistencies between the data

from dierent sources and, in addition, data supplied by Member States to the EMCDDA,

such as seizures, may themselves be collated from alarge number of dierent data sources

and in some countries the total values supplied may represent minimum estimates.

Estimates of the total size of the retail drug market in the European Union (EU) in 2017

for cannabis, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and MDMA have been constructed using a

demand-side approach. ese estimates are likely to underestimate the size of the market

due to gaps and underestimations in the currently available data, on which they are based.

Nevertheless, the process has proved valuable in identifying key gaps in our knowledge.

Some key principles underpinning the approach taken are:

■European estimates were obtained by summing individual country estimates;

■wherever possible, the data used came from routine EMCDDA data collection;

■where imputation of missing data was essential to produce a national estimate, this

was based on related country-specic data, if possible, or else the average across those

EU countries for which data were available was used;

■all imputations and assumptions made within the estimation process are noted, so that

the limitations are clear.

However, in areas where data on which to base assumptions are lacking or are of

insucient quality, no imputations have been made. is includes, for example, the extent

of underestimation and undercoverage in the general population survey data underpinning

the estimates. erefore, the retail market value reported here is a minimum estimate.

In addition, it only reects the amount consumers spend on illicit drugs and provides no

information on other aspects of the drug market, such as the prots and losses for criminal

groups at dierent stages of the supply chain.

Global data are sourced from the United Nations Oce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and

the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

Currency conversions to euros throughout the report are based on European Central Bank

exchange rates for the year corresponding to the data used (European Central Bank, n.d.).