The new European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) will work to tackle the health and security threats related to illicit drugs across the bloc focusing on the monitoring of new substances and cross-border cooperation. EUDA officially started working this week in Portugal following a 2022 Commission proposal to beef up the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). “This will allow you [the agency] to do an even better job than you do today warning Europe of the dangers of drugs,” said Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs during the official launch of the agency in Lisbon.
With worrying consumption statistics revealed in the the EUDA will focus on strengthening drug preparedness in an increasingly intricate environment with “an increasingly complex drug phenomenon and the emergence of potent new substances”. The annual drugs report found that the EU market is now characterised by a wider range of substances, with serious implications for public health amid relative consumer and scientific ignorance. By the end of 2023, the EMCDDA monitored over 950 new psychoactive substances, 26 of which were identified for the first time in Europe that year.
"The complex drug market makes any analysis, anticipation and adoption of responses more complex and challenging,” said EUDA’s executive director Alexs Goosdeel. He added that there are three main challenges on which the agency's work will focus - the recent increase of poly-drug use, drug-re.
