TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping novel psychoactive substances policy in the EU
T2 - The case of Portugal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden
AU - Neicun, Jessica
AU - Steenhuizen, Marthe
AU - van Kessel, Robin
AU - Yang, Justin C.
AU - Negri, Attilio
AU - Czabanowska, Katarzyna
AU - Corazza, Ornella
AU - Roman-Urrestarazu, Andres
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Neicun et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2019/6/26
Y1 - 2019/6/26
N2 - IntroductionThe rapid rise in trade and use of NPS and the lack of information concerning their potential toxicity pose serious challenges to public health authorities across the world. Policy measures towards NPS taken so far have a special focus on their legal status, while the implementation of a public health strategy seems to be still missing. The aim of this study is to perform a general assessment of NPS-related policy (including regulatory measures and public health strategies) implemented by six European countries: Portugal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden.MethodsSix EU countries were included in this scoping review study. Drug policies (including legal responses and public health strategies) were analysed. UNODC drug policy classification system was used as a benchmark, while path dependency approach was used for data analysis; a net of inter-dependencies between international, EU and national policies was highlighted.Results and discussionThe countries included in this study can be placed in a wide spectrum according to their formulation of drug policy, from Portugal and the UK that have specific legal responses to NPS but have differently focused on harm reduction strategies at one end, to Sweden whose drug-free society goal is not translated into a specific regulation of NPS at the other end.ConclusionThe findings of the study reveal limited development towards harmonisation of national drug policies particularly with regard to NPS. To tackle the challenge presented by NPS, EU Member states have formulated legislation and public health strategies independently. National approaches to NPS are therefore in line with their already existing drug policies, reflecting cultural values towards substance abuse and national political interests, while the homogenization at an international level has so far mostly been focused on law enforcement and drugs use preventive strategies.
AB - IntroductionThe rapid rise in trade and use of NPS and the lack of information concerning their potential toxicity pose serious challenges to public health authorities across the world. Policy measures towards NPS taken so far have a special focus on their legal status, while the implementation of a public health strategy seems to be still missing. The aim of this study is to perform a general assessment of NPS-related policy (including regulatory measures and public health strategies) implemented by six European countries: Portugal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden.MethodsSix EU countries were included in this scoping review study. Drug policies (including legal responses and public health strategies) were analysed. UNODC drug policy classification system was used as a benchmark, while path dependency approach was used for data analysis; a net of inter-dependencies between international, EU and national policies was highlighted.Results and discussionThe countries included in this study can be placed in a wide spectrum according to their formulation of drug policy, from Portugal and the UK that have specific legal responses to NPS but have differently focused on harm reduction strategies at one end, to Sweden whose drug-free society goal is not translated into a specific regulation of NPS at the other end.ConclusionThe findings of the study reveal limited development towards harmonisation of national drug policies particularly with regard to NPS. To tackle the challenge presented by NPS, EU Member states have formulated legislation and public health strategies independently. National approaches to NPS are therefore in line with their already existing drug policies, reflecting cultural values towards substance abuse and national political interests, while the homogenization at an international level has so far mostly been focused on law enforcement and drugs use preventive strategies.
KW - DRUG POLICY
KW - PATH DEPENDENCE
KW - LEGAL HIGHS
KW - CONVERGENCE
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0218011
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0218011
M3 - Article
C2 - 31242225
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 14
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 6
M1 - 0218011
ER -