You are here: Home > Contents > Selected issue 1: Drug-related public nuisance - trends in policy and preventive measures
This selected issue is not intended to present a systematic and exhaustive review either of all possible definitions of drug-related public nuisance or of all measures, provisions and policies aimed at reducing the problem in the European Union, nor does it aim to reflect precisely the situation regarding public nuisance in each of the countries concerned. Rather, it seeks to contribute to our understanding of the issues and problems related to a new – and somewhat still limited – area for intervention in Member States, candidate countries and Norway. This document aims to present the first EMCDDA qualitative insight into an emerging concern within drug policy debate, at both national and European levels. The individual behaviours and activities usually covered by the term ‘drug-related public nuisance’ have long existed in most of the countries reporting to the EMCDDA, and therefore we are not talking about a response to new phenomena. What is new is the tendency among policy-makers, apparent in some countries, to categorise these phenomena under the same umbrella and to make the reduction in their occurrence a key objective of their national drug strategy (1) – and/or to develop specific interventions to tackle those issues.
To what extent is this tendency shared among European countries? Is there a consensual definition of this concept? How are the nature and extent of the phenomena to be assessed? What are the policies aiming to achieve and what are the types of interventions implemented, whether or not they are explicitly designed to reduce drug-related public nuisance? Are there any results from evaluations already available and have quality standards for intervention been established? All these are among the core questions that this selected issue aims to address.
(1) The term ‘national drug strategy’ is defined, by convention, as any official document adopted, agreed or endorsed by the government or part of it (such as a ministry), planning future activities in the field of drugs. It could equally be called a drugs strategy, drugs plan or policy programme, or it could take the form of a letter or note to parliament or some similar format. To fit within this definition any document will have to fulfil three main conditions: (1) it must be a written document; (2) it must be agreed by public authorities; and (3) it must describe and plan future activities in the field of drugs, or at least in a related area.