Study on alternatives to coercive sanctions as response to drug law offences and drug-related crimes : Final report

The EU Action Plan on Drugs 2013-2016 requires EU member states to ‘provide, where appropriate and in accordance with their legal frameworks, alternatives to coercive sanctions (such as education, treatment, rehabilitation, aftercare and social integration) for drug using offenders’. The EU Action Plan on Drugs 2013-2016 also requests increased monitoring, implementation and evaluation of alternatives to coercive sanctions for drug-using offenders. This document reports findings from a ‘study on alternatives to coercive sanctions as response to drug law offences and drug-related crimes’, which has been conducted by RAND Europe for the European Commission, DG Migration and Home Affairs. This document includes: Introduction to the study (Chapter 1), an overview of the approach to data collection (Chapter 2) and an explanation of how alternative sanctions were selected for inclusion in this report (Chapter 3). Findings about the alternatives to coercive sanctions that are available across EU member states (Chapter 4). Findings about the statistics available about the use of alternatives to coercive sanctions with the member states (Chapter 5) and about the reasons why alternatives are used in practice, or not (Chapter 6). Findings from the review and assessment of international research on the effectiveness of alternatives to coercive sanctions (Chapter 7). Conclusions and suggestions for further action (Chapter 8).