Will Europe Continue With ‘Harm Reduction’ Approach To Illicit Drugs After Political Shift To The Right?
THIS week marks a new beginning in the approach to illicit drugs in Europe with the launch of the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).
Spawned from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), which was established some 30 years ago, it comes with an increased budget and remit.
The agency says it intends to branch out from being a monitoring agency into a drug agency; one that is proactive, one that will aim to anticipate future challenges, and help countries develop their response through evidence-based interventions.
And, the EUDA says it is intent on developing an ‘evidence-based’ role in the emerging, continent-wide approach to cannabis liberalisation.
At the official launch in Lisbon on Wednesday this week, the EUDA’s senior team were pressed on whether the shift to the right in Europe, following last month’s European elections, would damage its ability to deliver on a ‘harm reduction’ approach to illicit drugs.
