Commission publishes report on the evaluation of the EU’s drug precursor policy

The European Commission has published a report on the evaluation of the EU’s drug precursor policy, which was conducted after consulting with stakeholders at a EU and national level. According to the report, the policy is overall still effective, but there is  a need to address the production and trafficking of ‘designer-precursors’, namely chemicals that are purposefully made to circumvent controls by the authorities and usually have no known legitimate use.

Drug precursors are rarely produced by criminals that manufacture illegal drugs such as cocaine, MDMA or heroin. Instead, they try to divert these substances from legal trade. The EU’s policy in this area is governed by Regulations 111/2005 and 273/2005, and all Member States