Drug law offences

Reports of offences against national drug legislation (use, possession, trafficking, etc.) reflect differences in law but also the different ways in which the law is enforced and applied, and the priorities and resources allocated to specific problems by criminal justice agencies. In addition, information systems on drug law offences/offenders vary considerably between countries, especially as regards recording procedures, definitions and statistical units.

The term ‘reports for drug law offences’ covers different concepts, varying between countries. Drug law offences usually refer to offences such as drug production, trafficking and dealing as well as drug use and possession for use, where these constitute criminal offences. Indeed, in some countries, drug use and/or possession for use are not considered as criminal offences and attract administrative sanctions: reports for these are not included in the data presented here.

The stage within the criminal justice system at which data have been reported and recorded, vary sometimes across countries. For example, data on drug law offences might be recorded at an initial stage when a first report is made by law enforcement agencies, or after investigation by the Judicial Police, or even following a decision for a charge to be issued by the Prosecutor.

Statistical units vary between countries. Some Member States record offences while others record persons (or presumed offenders). Among those recording offences, some record all offences reported to them, while others record only the main offences – i.e in the case of several offences committed by the same person, only the most serious offence (usually the one that attracts the highest penalty) is recorded. Among countries recording persons, some record a number of individuals being reported during the year, while others report only a number of different individuals reported during the year. In the former case, an individual reported twice during the same year will be counted twice while in the latter case he would be only counted once in the statistics. In addition to these, when considering breakdowns by drug, here too, some countries report all drugs mentioned in a case while others record only the main drug (defined according to different criteria in different countries).

These differences – in the type of offences considered as criminal offences, in the stage at which the statistics are made, and in the type of statistical units – lead to major difficulties when comparing data from different EU countries.

For more information see the EMCDDA’s European Legal Database on Drugs (ELDD) and the Information map on law enforcement sources.