The Irish EU presidency will oversee significant developments in relation to the drugs issue, with preliminary discussions taking place on the next iteration of the EU’s drugs strategy, and the first meeting of national drugs co-ordinators from the 25 members states of the newly-enlarged Union. 

EU drugs strategy conference

On 10–11 May a closed conference will be hosted by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Dublin Castle to lay the groundwork for the development of a new EU Drugs Strategy 2005–2010. The main targets of the existing EU Drugs Strategy 2000–2004 are:

·         to reduce significantly the prevalence of illicit drug use, as well as new recruitment to it, particularly among young people under 18 years of age

·         to reduce substantially the incidence of drug-related health damage and the number of drug-related deaths

·         to increase substantially the number of successfully treated addicts

·         to reduce substantially the availability of illicit drugs

·         to reduce substantially the number of drug-related crimes

·         to reduce substantially money laundering and illicit trafficking of precursors

The Strategy is underpinned by the EU Action Plan on Drugs 2000–2004, which transposes the Strategy into concrete actions, and provides both a guide to specific actions to achieve the Strategy and a solid base for the evaluation of the Strategy.

A steering group has been established to oversee the final evaluation of the EU Drugs Strategy, and is due to report by the end of 2004. The Dublin conference, entitled ‘EU Drugs Strategy – the Way Forward’, will, among other matters, address the issue of involving civil society in the development of EU drugs policy. 

National drugs co-ordinators’ meeting

On 15 June, six weeks after the accession of 10 new member states to the EU, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will host a meeting of the 25 EU national drugs co-ordinators in Clontarf Castle. The 2003 Annual Report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Abuse (EMCDDA) on the drug situation in EU acceding and candidate countries noted that enlargement will present considerable challenges in terms of increased opportunities for drug trafficking in the EU, escalating drug use within the new member states and the spread of infectious diseases. As well as posing challenges, it was noted at the launch of the EMCDDA Report, that enlargement will present ‘a unique opportunity to benefit from closer cooperation in the drugs area’ (see Drugnet Ireland  10, September 2003, for a full account of the Report).