Dianova has been selected by the Directorate-General Justice of the European Commission as a member of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSF) for the period 2013-2014. During this two-year period, Dianova will join other NGOs on this platform of exchanges of views and information between the European Commission and civil society organizations.
Whether it has to fight against trafficking, to thwart the emergence of a growing number of new, unregulated psychoactive substances marketed on the Internet, or to reduce drug demand and supply, the challenges arising across Europe seem immense. In order to face these issues, the European Union has developed over the years a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach.
The EU approach to tackle the issue of drugs may combine actions within the framework of European Community competence (public health, money laundering, development aid), through a close cooperation between Member States (foreign policy, justice and home affairs) through specific partnerships with international organizations.
This EU’s response is set out in the multi-annual EU Drugs Strategy 2005-2012 and the EU Drugs Action Plan which covers the period 2009-2012.
Civil Society, Partner in the Implementation of EU Drug Policies
The European Commission considers Civil Society, in particular NGOs, as an important partner in the implementation of European drug policies. To prepare the best possible action plans in this matter, the Commission needs to tap the diversity of experience and knowledge held by grass-roots organizations acting in the field of addiction treatment and prevention as well as organizations supporting or otherwise representing drug users or their families. Even though they do not work primarily or directly with drug policy, most of those stakeholders still have valuable insight for the European response to drugs.
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSF) meets at least once a year. The overall objective of the CSF is to feed specific grass-roots experience into Commission proposals; contribute to the work on monitoring the EU Drugs Action Plan , and to support the Commission’s work to prepare the new EU drugs policy framework.
