In a joint report published on Tuesday, 26 November, Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warned against the rapid development of the EU drug markets, specifically as a result of new technologies.
“This report presents a worrying picture of Europe’s drug market”, stated European Commissioner for Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos at a press conference.
According to the report, Europeans spend at least €30 billion each year on illegal drug purchases from retail networks. Approximately two-fifths of this total amount (39%) is spent on cannabis, 31% on cocaine, 25% on heroin, and 5% on amphetamines and MDMA. In contrast, there has been a slowdown in the number of new detections of new psychoactive substances in Europe.
According to EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel, the main innovation is that the EU’s drug markets are growing even faster than before. According to the report, globalisation, innovation and new technologies are three driving forces that are stimulating and facilitating developments in the drug market.
The surface web and the darknet as well as social networks, messaging services, and mobile applications have become common avenues for online drug sales. According to the report, encryption and anonymised services are also increasingly used by organised crime groups to secure communications in illicit drug trafficking and sales.
“The contemporary drug market is increasingly complex, adaptive and dynamic; it is also more global in nature and more interlinked than in the past. EU policies and responses need to be equally agile, adaptive, and joined-up if they are to effectively address current and future challenges in this area”, the report concludes.
It also states that the identification, disruption, and dismantling of organised criminal groups involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption must remain a top priority.
However, it also points out that—in addition to the direct impact on health and safety—the drug market has indirect and wide-ranging negative consequences in other areas, such as violence and community safety, economic development, governance, and the environment. According to EMCDDA, a better understanding of these links is therefore needed to inform the development of stronger, more integrated multi-sectoral responses.
See the report: http://bit.ly/2QRAL55 (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)