Transcript To develop key-indicators for the collection of policy

First European conference on drug supply
indicators, 20-22.10.2010, Brussels – Feed-back
Chloé Carpentier, Laurent Laniel, EMCDDA
33rd meeting of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee
16th November 2010
Background
EU Drug Action Plan 2009-2012, Action 67:
“To develop key-indicators for the collection of
policy-relevant data on drug-related crime, illegal
cultivation, drug markets and supply reduction
interventions and to develop a strategy to collect
them”
General objectives
Conference: a first step in a process towards key indicators
Establish a strategy for putting in place the
information tools needed to improve the
evidence base for understanding drug supply in
Europe
Participants – forensic scientists, law enforcement,
criminologists, data analysts, monitoring professionals
Three main themes – markets, crime, supply reduction
Specific objectives
 Current ‘state of the art’ in data availability and reporting
tools
 Structural and practical barriers and how to overcome
 New approaches and potential monitoring options
 Possible new developments within the existing
framework
 Consensus on a road map for scaling up existing
practices
 Basis for a network of both operational and scientific
experts
Key conclusions
Consensus
 Need to develop our understanding of drug supply
 Guiding principles
 Methodological understanding
 Challenges
Three main areas
 Drug markets
 Drug crime
 Drug supply reduction
Next steps
Need to develop our understanding of drug
supply issues
A key drug policy area
Supply reduction receives a large amount of public funding
A gap in the existing knowledge base
To better design and target measures to fight drug supply
To assess unintended consequences
Source of trend information and part of the bigger picture
Structure of the work
Recognise the links but for practical efficiency organise the
work around three themes:
 Markets
 Crime
 Supply reduction
In each area, need to
 Build – scaling up existing approaches
 Develop and access – innovative approaches,
analytical needs, research priorities
 towards a practically grounded roadmap with clear short,
medium and long term objectives
Drug markets (I)
Essential datasets: drug purity, tablets contents, prices
Audit of datasets and review of reporting practices and
consensus on core data and methodologies, so as to
Develop European standard instrument tailored to different
market levels (from retail to wholesale and import), which
Includes guidelines on data recording and reporting, and
Identifies analytical issues and approaches, implementation
issues, obstacles and opportunities
Drug markets (II)
Also explore:
• Forensic science: great potential
- Adulterants and mixtures of psychoactive substances
- Reporting framework linked to Euro-wide EWS
- Maybe: central system for synthesis of reference material and
collection and analysis of drug samples (linked to EWS)?
• Precursors: production and trafficking
• Sizing markets (demand-side)
• Methods for price-purity prices
• Wastewater analysis, internet as monitoring tool, drugs
as competing commodities (stimulants).
Drugs and crime (I)
Large and complex field: a variety of criminal acts, hard to
bring under common framework
Definition needed to identify areas where measurement is
possible, practical and realistic
Need to link with other criminal justice datasets and police
reporting
Suggestion to broaden definition to look at actors and
positions in the different offences of the supply chain.
Drugs and crime (II)
Need to prioritise monitoring and research goals:
- Drug law offences:
- Need to reconcile European datasets and agree on common
case definition
- Develop an European standard instrument (inc. guidelines for
collection and reporting)
- Address link between supply, OC and criminal hubs
- Intra-European drug production: a must for knowledge
development
- Understanding economic issues
Drug supply reduction (I)
Broad, diverse and complex field where policing and
criminal justice play central role
Drug policing: multi-faceted activity with range of
organisations, actors, methods and practices
But not all drug policing is supply reduction (and vice-versa)
Need for clear conceptual framework of supply reduction in
order to better understand and monitor
Seizures and DLOs: potentially indicators of supply
reduction activity
Drug supply reduction (II)
An under-researched field, need to develop priorities
• EMCDDA to produce picture of DSR activities in Europe
- Starting point: existence, role and practices of
specialised drug units (“drug squads”)
- European cooperation: practical implementation
and benefits
- Alternative development: relevant for Europe?
• Euro-DSR part of bigger context
Where do we go next
Three working groups in main areas
Take forward discussions
Develop a proposal
 concepts, priorities and a realistic approach
 key indicators conceptualization
 implementation strategy
2nd European conference in 2012 – consensus
building
Thank you for your attention