European Union Measures Concerning Drug Trafficking, Addiction and International Cooperation

Abstract

Since the 1990s the European Union has taken on the task of combatting drug trafficking and addiction. In order to support efforts by Member States, the EU has introduced a series of measures, ranging from legislative action to financing research projects. This presentation provides an overview of the policy framework, describing the underlying competences derived from the Treaty of Lisbon as well as the current EU Drug Strategy. This Strategy pursues five main objectives: reduction of drug demand and supply, coordination of the exchange of information, international cooperation as well as research and monitoring. In order to implement these objectives two four-year Action Plans have been enacted. Selected measures of the current Action Plan shall be presented in detail. Over the years, new institutions as for example the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) have been established and existing agencies such as Europol have been entrusted with drug related tasks. The presentation further gives an overview over these institutions, their purposes and areas of responsibilities as well as their collaborative partnership. Finally, the presentation examines drug-related projects financed by the EU.

Presenter biography

Dr Monika Stempkowski holds master degrees in both law and psychology, which she obtained from the universities of Vienna and Urbino, Italy. During her studies she worked for several years in the field of addiction prevention and treatment before she concluded her education as a clinical and health psychologist. She is also registered with the federal ministry of justice as certified mediator. 

From 2012 to 2018 Monika Stempkowski has been working as a researcher or external lecturer at the department of criminal law and criminology at the University of Vienna in the field of criminology. Her research focusses on the topics of mentally ill offenders, penitentiary systems, drug crime and victimology. In her doctoral thesis she explores the reasons responsible for the decline of the recidivism rate of mentally ill offenders within the Austrian penitentiary system. Sind 2018 she is leading the research project Successful Tertiary Prevention of Mentally Ill Offenders which is conducted by the Austrian Association of Psychologists.