Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-06-Speech-3-255"
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".
The Council understands very well how important it is to have access to precise statistical data which can be compared. In that way, it is possible to assess the nature and extent of drug use, together with the trend in drug-related crime and to analyse the success and effectiveness of the methods which have been introduced to combat drug misuse.
In this connection, it ought to be emphasised that all Member States of the European Union now have access to statistics of this kind. It is also clear, however, that it is not enough to exchange national statistics if we want to develop a specifically European method. We must also ensure that the definitions any such system is based upon can be compared between one country and another.
The work which has already been embarked upon within this field has, however, has revealed significant differences between the national systems for collecting statistics. The Member States use a range of different indicators to describe the incidence of drug abuse and its effects upon health, together with the trend in drug-related crime at national level. Definitions forming the basis of the indicators are also sometimes very different from each other. When it comes to the quantity of confiscated drugs, a number of Member States combine different kinds of drugs in their statistics while other countries divide the information according to criteria which are not necessarily the same from one State to another.
The statistical information is assembled by a variety of bodies, for example by the Customs, the office of the public prosecutor or departments reporting to the police. At the same time, the systems for collecting, recording, evaluating and transferring the information operate at considerably different levels of centralisation. It is also important progressively to harmonise the principal epidemiological indicators.
The Council understands all this very well and is supported in its disquiet by the European Parliament’s resolution of 13 April 1999, as well as by the Commission’s report on the European Union’s action plan to combat drug abuse during the period 2000-2004 and by the report of 17 March 1999 from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EDMC).
Ever since its second work programme for the period 1998-2000, EDMC has formally described its most important goals as being those of introducing common indicators and devising instruments and methods for comparing initiatives, schemes and legislative strategies within the European Union, as well as that of establishing a data base for existing tools, which is to make it easier to access and compare information.
In March 1999, the EDMC reiterated its message from the previous year. There was also an initiative from the German Presidency to give a working group within the Council the task of investigating what measures are required for improving the ways in which police drug statistics are compared. A detailed statistical questionnaire has been prepared. The Member States’ answers will then form the basis for preparing indispensable common standards for collecting information.
The fact that suitable structures have been introduced within the Council has already made possible the conclusions to which I referred at the beginning of my intervention about the difficulty of comparing different national systems. It is the very clear intention of our Presidency to support these endeavours and ensure that the records of past and future success in reducing drug trafficking are afforded added value in both qualitative and quantitative terms."@en1
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