NCJ Number
133056
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This chapter provides an overview of recent developments in European drug use, approaches to its control, and related issues such as responses to the spread of HIV.
Abstract
The discussion first reviews the debates over the nature of any link between drug use and acquisitive and violent crime. The review questions the dominant image of drug markets as monopolistic. Also addressed are the development and uptake of domestic legislation and bilateral agreements designed to facilitate the confiscation of the assets of drug traffickers (forfeiture). The chapter offers observations on the relevance of the European Single Market for drug use, control, and policy. The chapter concludes with observations on existing areas of cooperation and the prospects for mutual assistance between law enforcement agencies in relation to intelligence sharing and operational matters. The author foresees the possibility of cooperative drug-control efforts that will produce a European drug enforcement administration patterned after the U.S. model. Another possibility projected is the development of a more intelligence-oriented drug agency, a pan-European version of Britain's National Drugs Intelligence Unit.