Overview
- Role: To provide factual, objective, reliable and comparable information, early warning and risk assessment on drugs and drug addiction, as well as recommendations to address drug-related challenges.
- Director: Alexis Goosdeel (Belgium)
- Inauguration: 2 July 2024 (replacing the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA))
- Number of staff: 115
- Location: Lisbon (Portugal)
- Website: European Union Drugs Agency
The overall goal of the EUDA is to contribute to the European Union’s preparedness on drugs. Its work is organised around four service categories: anticipate, alert, respond, and learn. The agency: anticipates future drug-related challenges and their consequences; alerts in real-time on new drug risks and threats to health and security; helps the EU and its Member States strengthen their responses to the drug phenomenon; and facilitates EU-wide knowledge exchange and learning for evidence-based policies and interventions.
What it does
The EU Drugs Agency
- monitors the drugs problem in Europe (including emerging trends) and solutions applied to drug-related problems
- develops threat assessment capabilities in the areas of health and security, thereby increasing EU preparedness to identify and react to these new threats
- issues alerts, via a new European drug alert system, when high-risk substances appear on the market (complementing national alert systems and the EU Early Warning System on new psychoactive substances)
- monitors and addresses poly-substance use, which is becoming increasingly common and may have detrimental health effects
- manages a network of forensic and toxicological laboratories to foster information exchange on new trends and developments, and train national forensic drug experts
- develops and promotes evidence-based interventions and best practices
- provides research and support, both on health-related issues, and on drug markets and drug supply
- supports the independent evaluation and development of evidence-based policies
- plays a stronger international role and supports the EU in drug policy at a multilateral level
- reinforces the role of the national focal points to ensure that Member States are able to provide relevant drug-related data to the agency
- monitors developments related to the trafficking and diversion of drug precursors and contribute to the implementation of European drug precursors legislation
Who benefits
- policymakers, including national authorities and EU institutions’ representatives
- scientists and researchers
- international organisations
- practitioners
- general public
To remain policy-relevant, the EUDA is moving from an information-centred to a service-oriented model that provides analysis tailored to the needs of the bodies it advises.
