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Questions and answers on the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan

European Commission

Questions and answers
Dec 4, 2025
Brussels

What is the Commission adopting today?

Today, the Commission is presenting a new EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan against drug trafficking, as well as updated rules for monitoring and controlling drug precursors.

The Strategy sets out a way forward which safeguards citizens' well-being, public health, and security, and which strengthens the EU's preparedness and response to current and future drug-related challenges. The Action Plan complements the Strategy, with 19 priority actions focused on strengthening security, disrupting routes and business models of drug traffickers. At the same time, they will also support efforts to reduce drug-related harms and to reinforce international cooperation and partnerships. The new rules for monitoring and controlling drugs precursors will also support the EU's efforts in combatting drug trafficking.

Announced by President von der Leyen in the political guidelines and a key deliverable under the European Internal Security Strategy, ProtectEU, they set out a comprehensive EU response to the security, health and social, and environmental challenges linked to the trafficking and use of illicit drugs.

What is the current situation regarding drugs availability in the EU?

Drug trafficking constitutes a major threat to the wellbeing of Europeans and the security of Europe. Europe faces unprecedented availability of highly potent drugs, with synthetic opioids, cocaine and synthetic stimulants representing the primary emerging threats. These developments require strengthened monitoring, rapid alert systems and integrated evidence-based responses across public health, prevention and security.

Cocaine remains the most trafficked drug to Europe - in 2023, seizures increased up to 419 tonnes - through smaller and more vulnerable ports alongside major entry points. Cocaine use is widening in geography and social profiles, with 2.7 million young adults (15-34 year olds) reporting last-year use.

Synthetic drugs are a second challenge for the EU. Every year, our law enforcement breaks up 500 drugs production labs, with designer precursors - chemicals with no known legal use - being smuggled into the EU by organised crime. They bring risks to health, but also dangerous toxic waste - for instance, the production of one kg of MDMA generates approximately 58 kg of toxic waste.

These issues are widely felt across the EU. In a recent Eurobarometer, four in ten respondents considered drug use and trafficking serious problems in their area, and many believe the situation has worsened.

This evolving context underlines the need for an ambitious and coordinated EU approach to protect public health, strengthen security and improve preparedness for future challenges.

How does the EU tackle these challenges?

The EU tackles drug use through a balanced approach that combines health, social, and security considerations.

The EU Drugs Strategy sets out the overall framework. It aims to enhance preparedness and response to drug-related threats, strengthen public health through prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery, and reinforce security with new legislative and operational measures against illicit production, trafficking and criminal infiltration. The Strategy also addresses the social and economic factors that contribute to drug use and involvement in trafficking, in particular the recruitment of young people, and includes measures to reduce drug-related harm, and tools to counter the recruitment of minors. It also calls for stronger cooperation with international partners, civil society and the private sector.

The Action Plan puts forward targeted short and medium-term actions to step up the fight against drug trafficking, particularly to adapt to evolving trafficking routes and methods, prevent crime and reducing drug-related violence, stepping up cooperation across law enforcement, customs and judicial authorities, and tackle the challenges posed by synthetic drugs.

This comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach is aligned with the EU Internal Security Strategy (ProtectEU), the Preparedness Union Strategy and the European Health Union, ensuring that the EU is better equipped to prevent drug-related harm, protect citizens' health and strengthen security.

What are drug precursors and why is the Commission putting forward updated rules to monitor and control them?

Illicit drug production, trafficking, and distribution is a growing and evolving criminal business. New, potentially more toxic and addictive, psychoactive substances are emerging across the EU. Drug precursors are chemicals which are indispensable in various industries, from pharmaceuticals to plastics. However, they can be diverted by criminals for the illicit production of drugs such as amphetamines, ecstasy, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin.

In addition, criminal networks increasingly circumvent existing controls by using designer precursors, close chemical relatives of traditional drug precursors but with no known legitimate use, to produce synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances.

The Commission is therefore putting forward a revision of the existing Union rules on drug precursors. Stronger measures will allow for faster and more effective monitoring and control of precursors. This will significantly curb the availability for criminal networks to manufacture illegal drugs. At the same time, the initiative will simplify and digitalise processes for legitimate trade, ensuring that industries can thrive without excessive regulatory burdens.

Preventing legally traded drug precursors from being diverted into the illegal circuit helps the fight against illicit drugs, as it reduces the amount of necessary chemicals available to make the drugs. This is a key component of the EU Drugs Strategy and the EU's overall efforts to combat drug trafficking and drug-related crimes.

Why is the new legislation on precursors necessary?

The evaluation of the drug precursors legislation in 2020 showed that the legislation was not sufficiently fit to tackle the proliferation and trafficking of designer precursors. The evaluation also highlighted the potential for reducing administrative burden for businesses and authorities.

The new proposal distinguishes substances without known legal use (designer precursors) from those that are traditionally widely used by industry. Designer precursors are used to circumvent existing controls. The proposal aims to prevent this by enlarging the number of substances to be controlled by businesses and authorities. It will also apply a more restrictive regime to designer precursors, while maintaining the possibility for their legitimate use in research and innovation.

The proposal merges the two existing regulations on internal and external trade into a single instrument, and streamlines and digitises existing paper-based procedures. As a result, controls will be simplified. For example, a quantity management approach to external trade will remove the need for import/export authorisations.

What other actions will the Commission take to address the challenges related to synthetic drugs?

Illicit drug production, trafficking and distribution is a growing and evolving criminal business. New potentially more toxic and addictive psychoactive substances are emerging across the EU. Drug precursors, and increasingly designer precursors (substances without known legitimate uses), are often misused to produce synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances.

To address the challenge posed by increased production, import and trafficking of synthetic drugs, the EU will boost operational efforts to detect and safely dismantle clandestine laboratories and stop the inflow of drug precursors, including designer precursors.

In addition to closing legal loopholes on designer precursors, the Strategy sets out plans for an EU-wide identification of substances through a new reference database, and provide guidelines for the safe dismantling of illicit laboratories.

At the same time, the Commission will increase the monitoring of diversion and trafficking of drug precursors and designer precursors with support from the EUDA. The EUDA will set up a new Drug Precursors Information Repository, which will contain information on precursors and facilitate identification and information sharing with Member States.

The EU will also step up cooperation with international partners to monitor and subsequently disrupt the illicit production, diversion and trafficking of drug precursors, including designer precursors.

Together, these measures should close loopholes exploited by criminal networks, strengthen EU resilience across air, land and sea, and ensure a coordinated response to both traditional trafficking routes and the evolving synthetic drug market.

How will the Commission support the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan?

To implement the drugs Strategy and Action Plan, a whole-of-society approach is needed, with coordination among EU institutions, bodies, agencies, and Member States, as well as civil society and the private sector. In addition, coordination across sectors, particularly health, security, and justice, is crucial at both EU and national levels.

The Commission and the Council will regularly review the implementation of the strategy. To do so, the Council is invited to develop an implementation framework, with the support of the Commission.

The Action Plan clearly identifies the key actors to implement each priority action. The Commission, taking into account information provided by the Member States and the EEAS, will monitor the implementation of these actions. Relevant EU agencies, particularly the EUDA and Europol, will support these efforts by contributing to monitoring and reporting on progress.

The Commission and the Council, with the support of the EUDA and Europol, will monitor implementation and evaluate progress, ensuring that the Strategy can be updated as required. It therefore provides the long-term framework for EU action on drug policy from 2025 onwards.

How will EU Agencies contribute to the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan?

EU agencies are central to making this Action Plan work: Europol as the operational and intelligence hub, the EUDA as the scientific and forensic backbone, and Frontex as the key border management actor. Together, they support Member States in identifying routes, synthetic drugs and criminal networks, and in monitoring progress on implementation.

Europol will step up its operational support to Member States, with more systematic monitoring of digital drug markets and by coordinating transnational investigations to dismantle criminal networks involved in drug trafficking.

The EU Drugs Agency (EUDA) will support Member States with evidence-based responses to emerging drug-related challenges. It will play a key role in identifying new psychoactive substances, issuing rapid alerts, and assessing the risks posed by highly potent synthetic opioids. It will also support Member States with their prevention efforts and awareness-raising activities on the impact of drug use and drug trafficking.

Frontex will increase its support to Member States when it comes to monitoring the external borders, including with advanced surveillance technology and situational awareness tools, improving the detection and prevention of cross-border drug trafficking.