Resolution of the Executive Committee of the European Forum for Urban Security Adopted in Cologne on 5 December 2024
Creating a coalition of European cities and regions to face the drugs crisis Cologne, Germany, 5 December 2024 – “Everywhere. Everything. Everyone.” This is the landscape of drugs today in Europe as described in the latest report (2024) from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). It notes that the impact of drugs is felt everywhere, that “almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market,” and that everyone feels the impact, across all social classes, whether a user or a citizen affected by trafficking in public spaces and the violence associated with it. European cities and regions, whatever their size and the country they’re in, are seeing daily the impacts described by the EUDA. To say that this is a real crisis is not hyperbole: cities say that they are contaminated by trafficking, worsening violence and the consequences for social cohesion. Nor is it an exaggeration to say that we have reached a stage where drug trafficking is undermining the foundations of our democracies. Firstly, because it seeks to infiltrate institutions and businesses. Secondly, because it engenders feelings of insecurity among citizens (they see drug trafficking in their neighbourhood, in the entrance hallways of their blocks of flats) and of abandonment by public authorities (“we respect the law, but 'they' traffic with impunity”). This in turn feeds populist extremism. Creating a coalition of cities and regions Many European cities and regions have been working on drug-related issues for years, running innovative prevention and countering schemes based on co-production with a wide range of local stakeholders. But today, given the seriousness of the situation, we need to move up a gear
© European Forum for Urban Security December 2024