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Former Anti-drug Coordinator: EU Must Rethink its Drug Policy

by AI | 25.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

The think tank Rational Addiction Policies (IRAP), which was founded by a former drug coordinator, opened its office in Brussels this week.

Members of the police unit. Photo: Andreas Arnold/dpa

Brussels – The European Union should reconsider some of its policies in the area of tackling drug addictions and solve the problems better, according to former Czech drug affairs coordinator Jindřich Vobořil. Vobořil mentioned, for example, the fact that within the European Commission, one directorate deals with drugs, another with alcohol, another with tobacco and digital addictions, and no one deals with gambling. The Rational Addictions Policy think tank (IRAP), founded by the former drug affairs coordinator, opened its office in Brussels this week.

“It is necessary to look at it from all sides. Addiction is not different with alcohol or heroin, nor with tobacco or various medicines. It is one topic. It is always addiction and some related problem,” Vobořil said to Czech journalists in Brussels. His think tank wants to bring new data in this context and cooperate with other non-governmental organizations, academics, or people from the European Parliament and say that “it is necessary to reconsider some things.”

Another major topic they would like to raise concerns drug trafficking. “Funds flowing from the growing illegal drug market, counterfeit tobacco products, alcohol, illegal gambling, and counterfeit medicines create financial flows comparable to gas,” said Vobořil, who is the chairman of the IRAP think tank’s board. “These funds increasingly flow to totalitarian states and international terrorism,” he added, noting that this brings great security risks.

IRAP is an independent organization based in the Czech Republic that focuses on promoting evidence-based policies in the area of addictions. Its goal is to contribute to a rational approach in this field. At the panel discussion entitled “Is the EU’s approach to addictions evidence-based?” held this week in Brussels, former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former Czech Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer, Harvard University professor Ethan Nadelmann, and Dutch Professor Wim van den Brink from the University of Amsterdam spoke, among others. (March 23)