Introduction

• Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EU body or agency), Europol (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 7-8

7

Introduction

It is with great pleasure that we present this new joint report by the European Monitoring

Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the European Union Agency for

Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). e report focuses on the drug supply chain,

the associated criminal activities and actors, and the policy, strategic and operational

responses to these. It highlights the importance of the drug market as a key source of

revenue for organised crime, its links to terrorism and wider criminal activity, and the

negative impact it has on the legal economy and society more generally, demonstrating how

the drug trade and its wider ramications aect all aspects of the European security agenda

and why tackling them is essential to the European Union’s ght against serious and

organised crime. It describes, for example, the links between drugs and tracking in human

beings, the increasing levels of violence and corruption associated with the drug trade, and

the environmental harms from drug production — all of which are now increasingly visible

within Europe.

e analysis underpinning this report is strengthened by the complementary perspectives

our two organisations bring to this topic. e synthesis of the operational intelligence

provided by Europol, with research data and the information available from the ongoing

monitoring undertaken by EMCDDA has produced a report and accompanying online

materials that provide a contemporary strategic and action-oriented analysis of Europe’s

drug markets. is will be a valuable source of evidence to inform policies and actions and

a strategic understanding of how criminal enterprises operate to assist the targeting of

operational activities.

is is the third EU Drug Markets Report – it builds upon the analysis provided in the 2013

and 2016 editions and many of the conclusions and recommendations of the previous

reports remain relevant today. However, this new report is able to paint a richer picture

and provides additional insights. For example, it highlights the way in which many of the

harms more traditionally associated with drug production and tracking outside Europe

are becoming a growing threat within the EU. It also shows how the EU is increasingly

important as both a drug producing and transit region, while EU-based organised crime

groups are adapting their modi operandi and extending their reach, resulting in both

increased harms and new challenges for enforcement.

e increasingly globalised and digitally-enabled nature of drug markets illustrated in

the report means that the law enforcement activities countering these are becoming

more complex and resource intensive. is underlines the need to ensure the adequate

resourcing and prioritisation of supply reduction activities, including not only law

enforcement interventions and investigations, but also importantly activities to enhance

international cooperation, at both the national and EU level. e continued development of

joint programmes, networks, partnerships and capacity building in relation to drug supply

reduction among key regional partners, such as the Western Balkan and other neighbouring

countries as well as those in the drug producing regions of Latin America and Central Asia,

therefore needs to remain a high priority.

is report also illustrates the importance of continued investment in research, monitoring

and analysis, which is necessary to underpin the exible and dynamic responses that

Europe requires to tackle the problems generated by drug markets. Having a reliable and

comprehensive picture of the drug market and its wider impacts available is essential for

decision-makers at both the national and EU Level as well as to law enforcement authorities

in planning resource allocation and deciding on investigative focus areas. e EU Drug

Markets Report helps to address these needs by providing an indispensable reference point