Abstract: The General report of activities is an annual publication providing a detailed progress report of the EMCDDA’s activities over a 12-month period. It catalogues the Centre’s achievements in each area of its annual work programme. The report is a useful information source for all those seeking comprehensive information on the Centre and its work.

Abstract: The 2013-15 strategy and work programme is the third one since the EMCDDA’s recast Regulation in 2006. It is built around three top-level commitments: (a) providing a relevant, timely and responsive analysis of the drug situation; (b) efficiency: deriving maximum value from activities and investments; (c) communication and a customer-orientated approach. The bedrock on which this three-year strategy and work plan rests is the recognition that the achievements the agency has made since its inception have been delivered by maintaining clarity of purpose, technical rigour and a long-term vision.

Abstract: Drug policies fall within states’ responsibility, leading to a variety of national action plans and strategies reflecting the diversity of situations in the different countries. To make the most of this diversity, other countries’ experiences are widely discussed and taken into account. While there is a wish to learn about different policies and strategies in Europe, language continues to be a barrier since many of the relevant documents are not translated. An ever-increasing amount of documentation on evidence-related research, guidelines, manuals and good practice inventories is now available. At the same time, a significant number of international legal and political instruments need to be taken into account when developing and implementing action plans and strategies. In addition, there are various tools developed by international governmental and non-governmental bodies. However, qualified overviews allowing policy makers quickly to identify instruments and tools relevant to their work are rare, or even non-existent. The sheer quantity of available resources has grown to the point where giving them adequate consideration is becoming impossible. Furthermore, much of the material available is targeted at professionals and rarely at those involved in policy decisions. This policy paper aims to provide decision makers and policy managers with an overview of the basic principles, instruments and tools that will support them in developing, reviewing and implementing drug policies, strategies and action plans. It summarises key elements for coherent drug policies and effective strategies in the form of a series of guiding principles. It also lists a selection of relevant instruments, tools and resources proposed by European and international organisations (Appendix 1) and sets out a number of key observations by policy makers on existing practice (Appendix 2).

Abstract: Illicit drug markets have global dimensions and require coordinated responses on a comparable scale. In this context, the World Drug Report aims to improve understanding of the illicit drug problem and contribute to more international cooperation for countering it. This year’s edition begins with an overview of recent trends and the current situation in terms of production, trafficking and consumption and the consequences of illicit drug use in terms of treatment, drug-related diseases and drug-related deaths. The second chapter presents a long-term perspective: it looks at the main characteristics of the contemporary drug problem, the ways it has changed over the last few decades, the driving factors that shaped this evolution, and the directions it is likely to take in the future. The Report is considerably shorter than previous editions, and the Statistical Annex is now published electronically on a CD-ROM, as well as the UNODC website: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2012.html

Abstract: In October 2010 the Minister Responsible for Drugs asked the ACMD to review khat by considering the available evidence and to advise the Government as to the current situation in the UK : the “harms caused to individuals and the societal harms in the affected UK‘s Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities”.