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Drugs and Decision-Making in the European Union

Subtitle

Author: Tim Boekhout van Solinge
Pages: 159
Language: English
Date: 2002
ISBN 90 5330 327 8
Price: € 0 + € 5.00 shipping and handling

Drugs are a perennial topic within the institutions of the European Union — the Commission, Council and Parliament. The "drugs problem" is also regularly tabled on the agenda of the European Council, the six-monthly summit of the government leaders of the fifteen member states. The EU systematically brings drug-related issues into virtually all political dialogues with third countries or regional organisations. It even stresses the importance of anti-drug measures as part of trade agreements and development cooperation. By such means the EU has become an important player in the weird and wonderful world of international drugs control.

European decision-making mechanisms are complex and opaque at the best of times, and where drugs are concerned they are doubly so. This book gives an overview of the EU's anti-drugs measures and focuses on its decision-making process. It looks at why drugs have acquired a prominent position on the European political agenda and identifies the political function they serve there. This study shows that instead of solving the drugs problem, the EU's bureaucracy actually helps to keep it alive and well.

This book is one in a series of studies on drug policy conducted by the Centre for Drug Research (CEDRO) of the University of Amsterdam. It will appeal to anyone interested in international drug control, and to those who want to look behind the scenes of European decision-making.

Also available in Dutch.