03/30/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/30/2023 03:06
The Commission welcomes today's political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on a stronger mandate which establishes a new EU Drugs Agency. The new Agency builds on the achievements of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
Illicit drugs pose a complex security and health problem that affect millions of people in the EU and globally. The European Drug Report 2022 estimates that over 83 million adults in the EU (i.e. 29% of the adult population) have used illicit drugs at least once during their lives. In 2020, an estimated 5 800 overdose deaths in the EU involved illicit drugs, most of which due to combinations of illicit opioids, other illicit drugs, medicines and alcohol (a practice also known as poly-drug toxicity). At the same time, there is still a high availability of substances, in particular cocaine, as well as an increasing number of different substances, often of high potency or purity. These developments call for effective action at EU level.
With this enhanced mandate, the EU Drugs Agency will play a new role, including:
Next steps
The Regulation must now be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.
Background
The Commission proposed to strengthen the mandate of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, by transforming it into the European Union Drugs Agency, in January 2022. The proposal builds on findings of the Commission evaluation of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, published in May 2019. On the basis of this evaluation, the EU Drugs Strategy for 2021 to 2025 - approved by the Council in December 2020 - invited the Commission to propose revising the Agency's mandate to ensure that it plays a stronger part in addressing current and future challenges related to the drug phenomenon.
For More Information
Proposal for a Regulation on the European Union Drugs Agency (see also the annex to the proposal, the impact assessment and its executive summary).
Commission website on Drugs Policy
Drug trafficking is a vicious crime tearing the fabric of our European society. Year after year, we see an increase in quantities, purity, and potency of substances arriving into Europe or which are produced in our Member States. The EU Drugs Strategy 2021-2025 and related Action Plan set out ambitious and comprehensive actions addressing drug-related challenges from a supply, demand and harm reduction point of view. The role of the EU Drugs Agency is crucial for evidence-based policy of the Union. I welcome the stronger mandate agreed today which will increase the Agency's capacity to react faster and in a more targeted way to challenges and emerging threats
Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs - 28/03/2023