AMPHETAMINE-TYPE STIMULANTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 1998-2007

Drug matters appear high on the political agenda of the European Union. In the last decade, two successive European Union Drug Strategies and their related Action Plans were endorsed and implemented. In the area of synthetic drugs, a specific Action Plan was endorsed and legal instruments were developed to monitor and act against new synthetic drugs. Various initiatives have been undertaken to make law enforcement more effective. At European Union-level the model of intelligence-led law enforcement is being developed and implemented. This concept foresees a crucial role for the European Chiefs of Police Task Force, Europol and Eurojust. Furthermore, Europol and Member States developed Project SYNERGY, which is the main synthetic drugs project in the European Union. The Project is supported by the European Joint Unit on Precursors, the COSPOL Project on synthetic drugs and the CHAIN Project on amphetamine profiling.1 However, in spite of considerable progress that has been made in international law enforcement co-operation between Member States and with Europol, there is still considerable room for improvement.