Impacts and drivers of drug markets

• Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EU body or agency), Europol (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 21-27

CHAPTER 1

Impacts and consequences of drug markets

CHAPTER 2

Drivers and facilitators of drug markets

PART I

Impacts and drivers of drug markets

is report uses avery broad denition of the illicit drug

market, encompassing the illicit production, tracking,

wholesale distribution and sale of controlled substances

to the end user. e rationale for this is that, despite being

one of the priority areas for drug control policy and supply

reduction activities, the drug market is rarely considered

holistically or systemically and yet such aperspective is

likely to be critically important to both the formulation and

the evaluation of activities in this area.

is part of the report introduces the latest ndings on

the impacts and consequences of the markets for illicit

drugs in the EU and the key driving factors inuencing their

operation. e rst chapter presents arevised estimate of

the retail market size for the main illicit drugs before going

on to examine the interlinkages between the illicit drug

trade and other criminal activities and how the trade aects

communities and society at large. e second chapter

covers the key drivers and facilitators of drug markets.

We examine their inuence on today’s drug markets and

related trends, with aview towards the future.