Foreword

• Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EU body or agency), Europol (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 5-5

5

Foreword

Europe is confronted with a rapidly evolving drug market. e increased potency and purity

of illicit drugs, the record numbers of seizures and increased production in the EU, all

indicate that the availability of illicit substances is growing. We also see a dramatic increase

in the number of new, and often highly potent, synthetic substances present on the market.

Moreover, organised crime benets signicantly from the drug trade but, more worryingly,

these criminals have shown determination and ruthlessness in trying to grow their market

share. e direct impact of these developments is to be found in the number of fatal drug

overdoses, of which there were 8 238 in the EU in 2017, and individuals seeking help from

treatment providers or emergency services.

e increasingly global reach of organised crime groups involved in drug production and

tracking also represents a major cross-border security threat. ey are forward-looking

and quick to innovate in order to counter threats to their business model, but also quick

to take advantage of new opportunities. Indeed, the drug market has become increasingly

digitally enabled. Drugs purchased online can be transported across Europe and delivered

to consumers by post and parcel services. is creates new challenges for law enforcement.

e report also highlights the way drug market-related activities complicate and make

other security and health threats worse. It shows that the drug market is one of the major

sources of income for organised crime and how it is linked to other areas of criminality. e

drug market is also an important driver for the recruitment of young people into criminal

organisations and gangs, as well as the exploitation and tracking of vulnerable individuals.

e negative impact of drugs and drug use in Europe must also be measured in terms of

its societal consequences. Violent crime in producer and transit countries leads to reduced

social development, failing institutions, ecological damage and blighted communities.

e evidence provided in this third European Drug Markets Report and the links to

organised crime that it highlights are a major contribution to informing policymakers.

Confronted with such a growing threat, the European Union must be innovative and

forward-looking; it must step up its eort to ght the criminal activities, while keeping drugs

policy anchored in a balanced and evidence-based approach.

Paraskevi Michou

Director-General Migration and Home Aairs