Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign
CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign is a national network of community activists and community organisations that are involved in responding to Ireland's drugs crisis.
ID: 018288224966-40
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU Drugs Agenda and Action Plan
15 Jul 2020
The European Drug Report 2019 points out that 96 million adults (or just over a quarter of 15- to 64-year-olds) in the European Union are estimated to have tried illicit drugs during their lives but the significant majority of these do not go on to develop addiction problems. A significant minority however do end up in addiction and the evidence shows that people in addiction are vulnerable at multiple levels including underlying health issues, mental health, social marginalisation, higher economic and social vulnerabilities, criminalisation and stigma. In recognising this reality current EU Drugs Policy aims for a balance in addressing general public health issues around drugs and focusing on the people who are at greatest risk of drug-related harms. It is also based on a balanced approach to demand reduction, (including prevention and early intervention, risk and harm reduction, treatment, rehabilitation, social reintegration and recovery) and supply reduction. While the roadmap for the new EU Drugs Agenda begins by recognising that drugs pose a complex security, social and health problem, the priority problem areas that have emerged for consideration in the new EU Drugs Agenda do not appear to reflect this complex mix.
Recent evidence from the experience of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic across Europe has shown very clearly the crucial and life-saving role of harm reduction and treatment services that also address social reintegration measures such as adequate housing. According to EMCCDA “The current public health crisis raises serious additional concerns for the wellbeing of people who use drugs, ensuring service continuity for those with drug problems, and the protection of those offering care and support for this population. People who use drugs can be exposed to additional risks that require developing assessment and mitigation strategies. These are linked to some of the behaviours associated with drug use and to the settings in which drug use take place, or where care is provided. Risks are increased by the high level of physical and psychological comorbidity found among some people who use drugs, the fact that drug problems are often more common in marginalised communities, and the stigmatisation that people who use drugs often experience.”
An example from Ireland of the effectiveness of this broad-based harm reduction approach has been reported on by the LSE http://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/Assets/Documents/Harm-Reduction-in-the-time-of-COVID19.pdf
The roadmap points out that the drug market in the EU is estimated at a minimum retail value of 30 billion euro per year. While there is clearly a need for a strong focus on security issues relating to the drugs trade, there is an equally strong need for the EU to address the underlying economic context of the drugs trade and how it is inextricably tied up with the challenges that face the EU at a broader level of economic policy. Challenges arising from globalisation, migration, shifting demographics, urban renewal and changing employment opportunities, the decline of traditional manual work and the deindustrialisation of urban centres have all contributed to the growth and expansion of the drugs trade as a viable means of making a living, in particular for young men from disadvantaged communities, and of drug markets that are now embedded in local economies.
The recent EMCDDA and Europol report on the EU Drugs Market showed evidence of how drug distribution networks are rooted in a broader economic context. Recent research in Ireland has also shown that for some young people, drug selling is regarded as an alternative to labour market participation and is seen as a type of entrepreneurship in an unregulated economy.
https://www.citywide.ie/assets/files/pdf/2019_the_drug_economy_and_youth_interventions.pdf
While the roadmap refers to the social aspects as part of the complex nature of the drugs problem, the priorities as listed do not reflect this
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