National drug-related public expenditure
This is the first set of national profiles that the EMCDDA has produced on drug-related public expenditure. The profiles are based on the sections on public expenditure provided by the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway in the national reports. Information given in the replies to the 2011 structured questionnaire on ‘Drug policy, evaluation and coordination’ and the available literature on this topic have also been reviewed and incorporated.
These profiles aim to provide information on four main topics for each country. First, whether governments have allocated specific budgets to drug policy documents; second, the latest and most comprehensive estimate of national public spending on drug-related activities as a percentage of GDP; third, the evolution of drug-related public expenditure over time; and fourth, what can be expected from national estimates of drug-related public expenditure in the near future.
It is still not possible to provide a European picture or cross-country comparisons, however, as the amount and quality of information available varies greatly between countries. Studies cover different years, use a range of methodologies and do not always estimate the same proportion of budgets. Therefore, these national profiles have to be used with caution and definitive conclusions should not be drawn from them.