 Good afternoon from Lisburne and The Hague and welcome to the launch of a new report from the EMCDDA and Europol, EU drug markets key insights for policy and practice. My name is Catherine Robertson and I'm responsible for media relations at the EMCDDA. Today's report wraps up the latest EU drug markets in-depth analysis which kicked off in May 2022 and it outlines the current drug landscape in merging threats and it offers a top-level summary of key findings and actions to increase preparedness. This is the fourth comprehensive overview of the illicit drug market from the two agencies since the first one was launched in 2013. During this press conference we'll be hearing from three distinguished speakers. Firstly, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Miss Gilbert Johansson, followed by the Executive Director of Europol, Miss Catherine DeBull, and finally the Director of the EMCDDA, Alexi Guzdel. Before we begin I'd just like to give you a few housekeeping details. So after the speeches you'll be able to submit your questions to the two directors in English. For this please if you could use the Q&A button, so not the chat but the Q&A button. And as usual please state your name, your organisation and to whom the question is addressed. The Q&A will then be moderated by my colleague at Europol, Head of Corporate Communication and Spokesman, Mr Jan Optingen Ort. So it is now my pleasure to introduce the first speaker, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Miss Gilbert Johansson. Thank you. Drugs damage our health and our society. Drugs cause addiction, overdoses, death. And to organise criminal networks that traffic the drugs, undermine society with corruption and violence. To counter this dual threat our two EU agencies are joining forces. Our drugs agency with its expertise on drug markets and Europol with its focus on security. Each doing what they do best, combining efforts and breaking down silos. With the EU Drug Markets Report which offers key insights for policy and practice based on in-depth analysis and long-standing cooperation between the two agencies. As a policymaker I rely on the expertise of the drugs agency in Europol. I make my policies based on facts. Like recently the launch of the European Ports Alliance against drug trafficking. Because it takes a network to fight a network. If you are a policymaker, decision maker or practitioner this report offers a quick overview of what you need to know. With key insights on drug markets a constantly evolving market worth 30 billion euro in the European Union alone. With huge amounts and many different kinds of drugs available. And with the key developments on individual drugs, cannabis most commonly used, cocaine increasingly used and synthetic drugs being produced in the EU itself. And the report also outlines actions against drug threats. Actions to improve the intelligence picture. To reduce supply. Strengthening international cooperation. Capacity building. Policy and health care responses. So I would like to thank Catherine de Ball and Alexis Goustill personally. And I thank Europol and the drugs agency for this report. I recommend this report to everyone who is designing or implementing drug policies. Be it from the perspective of public health or security. I know it will help you to make a difference. We thank the commissioner very much for her message. And you can read more about her thoughts on this topic in the forward of today's report. We'll also make the video available on our website along with the full recording of this press conference. So I now have the pleasure to introduce Europol's executive director, Miss Catherine de Ball. Thank you very much. You have the floor. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon colleagues and friends. And thank you for your interest in the joint Europol EMC DDA drug markets analysis 2024 key insights for policy and practice. As the executive director of Europol, the European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, I have a special focus on the international criminal drug market. Criminal networks active in the illicit drug market are not any longer an invisible enemy. They have become part of our societies. These networks have a high negative impact on the very core of our communities, weaving through the fabric of our society or democracies, eroding trust, fueling violence and creating cycles of addiction and poverty. In short, the criminal networks behind the drugs market undermine the stability of our economy. They infiltrate our institutions with corruption, challenge the rule of law and weaken the social contract that binds us. The omnipresent influence of this enemy needs a vigilant unified response to safeguard our citizens and society's health. We have to find an answer to this complex problem. And there is a saying that for every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong. So what is the right answer to this complex problem? And how complex does it need to be? First, it's important to understand that this is a problem of our societies. Law enforcement has an important role to play, but it is only one part of the solution. This is why the drugs market's analysis looks at both the supply of drugs and the demand our users cite. Second, to effectively combat organized crime, we must understand how criminal networks work. Their adaptability and innovation in drug production and trafficking calls for an equally dynamic response from law enforcement, and I will give you three elements for an effective response. First, we need to improve the intelligence picture. This begins with the systematic monitoring and analysis of the criminal networks active in the drugs market. By continuously mapping the most threatening criminal networks and high value targets, we can respond at an earlier stage and allocate our resources more efficiently. Second, we need to strengthen responses to reduce the supply, for example, the trafficking and diversion of essential chemicals used in drug production. And third, we really need to strengthen international law enforcement cooperation, but starting from the bottom. Information on local networks must be shared at national level, and national information must be shared at international level. We need clear, coordinated, horizontal and vertical approaches. Every local drugs problem is linked to international organized crime. Behind the local cannabis or cocaine dealer is a larger national, but also international network. We must fight the whole chain. The fight against drugs trafficking remains an uphill battle, and we are not there yet. But we are making progress, and the violence we see on our streets is sometimes linked to this progress. We see large quantities. We arrest top criminals, and that creates unrest. Local groups fight over territories, but we need to continue. We cannot give up, and we certainly need to focus on those recruiting young people and minors to become part of the drug's criminal network. For this, we must continue to make full use of relevant European tools for operational coordination and international coordination in particular operational task forces and joint investigation teams. Europe, the organization I have the honor to lead, is the place for this kind of international law enforcement cooperation. We provide a unique platform where EU member states can pull resources, share intelligence and coordinate operations in real time to combat criminal networks. By leveraging the latest technologies and Europe's network of partners and third countries such as Ecuador and Colombia, we facilitate the exchange of critical information and we support cross-border investigations, making Europe an indispensable hub for safeguarding European and global security. In conclusion, the responsibility that lies with law enforcement in protecting our society, our economy and our democracy is immense. However, through innovation, collaboration and a relentless pursuit of justice, we can confront the challenges posed by the illicit drug market. For this, we need strong partners and there is clearly not a one-dimensional answer to a complex problem. We need a coalition on all levels of society, including the private sector and the economy, creating public-private partnerships such as the recent initiative on the EU Port Alliance. Let us reaffirm our commitment to these principles today for the safety and for the security of our communities tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madame de Waal. It's now time to hand over to Alexis Gousdale, the EMCDDA director. Thank you, Alexis, you have the floor. Good afternoon. Hello, Catherine, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very proud to share with you the new drug market report recommendations. It's the result of a years-long partnership together with Europol, but also with the European Network of National Focal Points, RATOX, all the sources of information that we mobilized together to provide a unique strategic analysis based on the dynamics of the drug market. And why is it important? Because today, more than ever, we are confronted with the multi-faceted drug market. The illicit drug market is more active and more potent than it has ever been. We have the highest availability of substances at always-ever cheap prices and high purity. As Catherine mentioned, the drug problem is one of the many globalized phenomena. It has an impact not only on the EU territory, but everywhere in the world. And the distinction between producing countries, trafficking countries and consuming countries is not yet useful to represent the real situation. There are plenty of problems faced by all countries, both on consumption, production and trafficking. And the European Union, as said by the Commissioner Johansson, the European Union is itself a worldwide producer for some drugs that are exported as far as to New Zealand or Australia. So that's the complexity of the problem. And due to this unprecedented increase and this elevated drug price and policy ratio, we see there is a huge increase in the recent years in the European Union. There is a significant impact on the society, not only on the side of drug use and the harm, drug-related harm and the consequences, but increasingly also drug-related violence that is impacting all the EU member states and that is impacting all the main cities in our countries, while until seven and eight years ago, when at European level we were discussing a strategy on drug-related violence, this was about providing support to Central America. Today, it's part of the daily reality in the European Union. So this call for a multidisciplinary, multi-branched approach, including of course law enforcement, public health, education prevention and international cooperation. And we need a strong framework to join forces together between the EU member states. And this common framework is provided both by the EU policy on drugs, the EU strategy, some of the key tools, including some tools that are not specifically tailored on drugs, but I have a strong drug component. Last week, the ministers of Interior gathered in Brussels to discuss the results of the evaluation of Schengen. And part of the evaluation of Schengen, there was a component about drugs and drug trafficking. So that's a huge priority for all of us. And it shows that one of the major changes compared with 10 or 20 years ago is the fact that today, if we want to adapt our policies and strategies, as Catherine DeBalt said, we need to join forces between law enforcement and public health and socio-economic development. Because in fact, if we look at some of the factors that are influencing playing a role in the development of areas of lack of control from the law enforcement, but also emergence of new use of people trafficking drugs, it's usually those areas with the high social and economic vulnerability. And clearly the responses to better address the issues at stake need to have the different component. Clearly, with the problem associated with drug-related violence in some cities, including in Brussels, the capital of Europe, it's not just with police actions or just with prevention programs. We need to work together to join forces at the international level, as Catherine said, but also at local level, especially bringing all the data, all the information we can have in order to better identify what are the different problems at local level and how to address them together in a more holistic approach, in a more holistic manner. Today or this year is a very special year for the EMCDDA, because in a few months' time we are going to transform ourselves into the European Drug Agency, a new agency, new mandate, broader mandate, more means, but they come with much more responsibilities. One of them is to provide more and better support to the EU and to the member states in partnership with our sister agencies, the first of them being Europol, but with some others like Frontex or ECDC or the European Medicine Agency. We want and we need to improve the intelligence picture, not only for the operations, but also for the strategic analysis. And one of the new features and the new services we are going to provide in that matter are two. One is the establishment of a European network of forensic and toxicology laboratories to help detect and monitor much faster any new drug, any new substance that is appearing on the European drugs market. We are going to provide support for more and better threat assessments. And certainly there is a double priority for the EU as stated by the roadmap that was presented by the commissioner a few months ago, and there will be a European high level conference on crime prevention in Tallinn in April this year. And the second conference that will be dedicated to drug related violence will take place in Brussels. We organize end of November in partnership with the European Commission, Europol and other agencies. The first high level conference on drug related violence because drug related violence is the main problem faced by citizens, by decision makers and by the mayors in many European cities. The second level of support is also to provide support, as Catherine said, to supply and supply reduction. And there was this week a proposal from the Belgian presidency of the EU to further develop and strengthen data collection on drug related seizures, mainly at the external borders of the EU. And of course the new EU DA welcomes this initiative and will contribute together with Europol, because for 30 years now, we have developed a standard set of drug supply indicators. We still face a lot of challenges to get timely information from the member states. And there I can join my voice to the voice and the arguments presented by Catherine to say we need more cooperation, more exchange of information, more and more timely communication between the member states and between the member states and the European agencies. International cooperation is a very important component. It was the Commissioner and the Minister of Interior of Belgium, Mrs. Annalise Verlinden, have paid the visit to the Port of Antwerp. We supported the visit, we attended the visit together with Europol, but they also paid the visit to Ecuador and to Colombia. Europol and the EU DA have a partnership, have cooperation, and myself will travel in May to Bogota to sign a bilateral working agreement with Colombia. Not only to exchange information, but also to learn what are the changes even in the production processes, in the way drugs are being produced, not only in the way they are smuggled through Europe. Finally, a very important area is investing in capacity building. And there we cooperate with Europol, but also with the European College of Police, say Paul, to train police officers to provide support. And in our case, one of the new services or augmented services, a great service we will produce and provide to the member states and the practitioners is a European drug alert system. One of the features of such a system will be as we did already some years ago together with Europol, we produced a special safety and security briefing for professionals from the law enforcement forces, being police or customs, how to detect and how to behave when they detect suspect powders that can be in some cases very potent synthetic opioids. Some of them just in contact with the skin could cause up to until an overdose and acute intoxication. So there is a need to help protect the law enforcement professionals and to give adequate information and the tools to make their intervention while being and remaining safe. We need also to improve and to further invest as highlighted by the commissioner in public health and public health interventions. I remember a meeting we had a few months ago together with Catherine, and Catherine DeBall was saying, okay, we do everything we can to fight against organized criminal groups, but we should find a way to have more and better prevention because people who are consuming, well, even if it is not their intention, but they contribute to the market, even if today the market is clearly driven by the offer of drugs and not by the consumers. So a key message for us is it's not time to launch a fight against drugs or against consumers. It's a fight against a fight in order to protect our citizens and protect everyone in the European Union. Certainly it means that we will need to update to change to adapt prevention treatment and harm reduction interventions to the new needs that are and the new harms that are caused by those new substances or those new combination of substances. So what in a nutshell, the report is showing and you have more detail for each main group of substances in the report. What we see is that there is a huge complexity, even more than it was five or 10 years ago. And in essence, it is changing drugs, the behaviors, trafficking, the behavior at local level, including the fight between the local criminal groups. And this means that it's time to keep the strategy, but to broaden and update the analysis on the basis of new and in the future, the new data that we still don't have and that are absolutely necessary to help the EU, the member states and the cities, for instance, to better protect the citizens and guarantee the security, the safety and the health. At the end, the human development of all our citizens. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Alexi. So now it's time to hand over to my colleague in Europe, to Jan, who will now take care of the Q&A and the moderation of the rest of the press conference. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Cathy. Thank you, Director Gustel. Thank you, ex-director de Bolle. Welcome to everybody from Europe's headquarters in the city of peace and justice, the Hague in the Netherlands. The questions are coming in. Some are more general, some are more detailed. I would say we go from the more general to the more detailed to ensure that the majority of followers have an interest in the directors and principles to answer. The question is not clear to whom it's directed, so I would say maybe for both from different angles, so ex-director de Bolle and director Gustel, how significant would you from your distinctive perspective say it the impact of the drug market in general in the EU? Yes, maybe I can start and then Alexi, you can continue. So the illicit drug market is still the largest market. And what do we see in the EU at the moment? We see that the last years we have been confronted to an increase of cocaine trafficking in the last years. What we also see is synthetic drugs, synthetic drugs are increasing. We are confronted to fentanyl, to tranq, to nitrogenous in the EU. And so we also see that the EU is a production area for drugs. And we also see that cannabis remains one of the most important drugs that is consumed and produced in the EU. What we also see is that criminal groups active in the illicit drugs market, they are very resilient, because even with all the crises we have known, like the COVID crisis, like the war in Ukraine, now the situation in Afghanistan, the drugs market stayed active and the criminal groups, they did show that they were resilient, that they are resilient to this global crisis, to this instability, to the economic changes we have gone through with the European Union. As Alexi also mentioned, we are confronted with criminal groups. The drug business is a very profitable business. So we see that there is a lot of, in fact, a key feature for criminal groups is the usage of violence. We even did found torture rooms in the EU now. This is what we have never seen this before. This was used in Latin America, but not in the EU. We also see, and we underestimated, in fact, the impact of and usage of corruption by criminal organizations and all the attempts to infiltration of criminal groups in the legal society. The big issue we are confronted with at the moment is that we see that criminal groups are recruiting young people, young people to make them an active member of the criminal group, young people who are then tasked to killings, to commit killings. And what we also see and what is really destabilizing the social network, the social contract, undermining the rule of law, and undermining trust in society is that whole families are living from the income they get through young people working for criminal groups. So we see that the dependency from families on the income of criminal groups is growing and is increasing. And that is really an area we have to work on. And that is why I say that we really need a multidisciplinary approach. And we really need to do more together with other services like inspection services of education, health services, the community services that are already working in different environments. Well, that was a very comprehensive answer. I fully support what Catherine said. I would add one very interesting example. It's the investigation around Sky ECC operation. And what I think is extremely interesting is the fact that thanks to the huge amount of information that was collected through that operation, we see that law enforcement forces, they are dismantling stock piles, laboratories everywhere in Europe. And what I find interesting is that most of the people, they are so surprised because in a small city in Wallonia, they realized there were tons of cannabis that were in a house or in another place. And for me it's important because it shows, it illustrates what together with Europe what we say for years is that it's not because people were not anymore dying from overdose in the streets that the drug problem has disappeared. And what Sky ECC is showing, and in its way also the huge increase in the availability of cocaine and the fight for controlling the market, the cocaine market but also the cannabis market, is the fact that those operations show how widespread it is all over our society. Which means that nobody can pretend that there is no drug, that there is no risk for the citizens. We know that there is a pressure, the very aggressive marketing methods. It really shows that even for people who were not used to use drugs, there is a much more exposure. And we have already mentioned during the COVID pandemic that one of the negative effects from the pandemic and on the measures that governments need to take is the fact that there was a negative impact on mental health in the population. On the already vulnerable groups in the society. And those groups, either through participation of the youngest, the youngest member in some criminal organizations, for instance, working for drug dealers or drug traffickers. Like few weeks ago, a few months ago in Marseille, there was a young teenager that came to Marseille to find a job on the drug field. He started doing the surveillance at 2pm at 6, he was dead. That was a very, it's one of many shocking examples that, as Catherine says, for some people it's even considered like a job opportunity if there is nothing else. And no problem today is to move towards less fragmented policies, more holistic, more comprehensive to support our social development. Because when we speak about useful or fruitful interventions for crime prevention, it's in the community. If we discuss about innovative or interesting methods for prevention, it's also community interventions. And what we see is that today, those who are in the front line and are extremely exposed to all the problems and struggling to find comprehensive solutions. They are the mayors of the cities. And this is why we look forward to the meeting, the conference of the European Forum on Urban Security that will take place in Brussels in two weeks from now, where we will have a rich opportunity for exchanges. Because those mayors, they are alone, they feel alone in front of a situation that may go out of control. And therefore this is a very concrete illustration that we need to join forces and that all actors have a role to play. Like when the mayor of Athens decided to open a consumption room, he met with the inhabitants of the neighborhood where there was open scene and where there was drug dealing and consumption. And his commitment was also to provide, again, public services from the municipality to an area that was socially deprived. I think it's very simple illustration that just one intervention is not enough. It's not enough to provide the place for safe consumption that can help address some part of the problem if we cannot guarantee the safety of the citizens if they are not, again, services provided to them like to any other cities. And so it shows how big is the challenge because it's not only about having more money for treatment or for the police. It's to have a common and joint long term investment for social development in our cities and in our countries. Thank you. I think this question also answered a little bit the questions that are coming on violence. There's a lot of questions on violence. Two follow up questions, maybe one for Alexis Cousteil immediately on cooperation with countries like Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are mentioned. You already mentioned Colombia that you go to Bogota soon, but maybe you would like to elaborate more on that. One more top question for Director de Bolo on why are the numbers of seizures going up from Max Ramsey from Bloomberg News. But if Alexis wants to speak on seizures, why at so high, please also for you. But maybe we start with Colombia, Peru, Bolivia for Alexis Cousteil. Okay, Jan, thank you. I will avoid to answer to the second part of the question because I'm sure Catherine will do very well and even better than me. For the first question, I think what is interesting is that there is a cooperation between the EU and Latin American countries for more than 30 years, 35 years. The first strategy of the EU towards non-EU countries or regions was the EU strategy on drugs in Latin America or with Latin America that was adopted in 1989. But the truth is that in the recent years, that cooperation has been strengthening. And one of the examples was that for 12 or 14 years ago now, a bi-regional program called COPPOLAT was established and was created gathering, fostering cooperation and coordination between the countries in Latin America, between the countries in the EU and between the two regions with different components that were not only covering law enforcement, but the building and development of national drug observatories, but also prevention program or training of the law enforcement forces. So what we can say is that with the huge and quick and rapid evolution of, first of all, the yield in the production of coca and cocaine in Latin America, even if in some cases we start detecting laboratories on the EU territory that make the last chemical phase of the transformation. But this increase in the availability and smuggling of cocaine that I think is at least partly combined with the fact that there is kind of a saturation of the American market, given the huge consumption and the huge quantities that have been smuggled in the last 30, 40 years, and that are unfortunately glamorized by some TV series that you can see on the internet, reaching the point that in Colombia, you have people who were tourists that were going to Medellin to have pictures taken together with the lieutenant of Pablo Escobar, which was not really welcomed by the Colombian citizens, as you can imagine. So the evolution brings now new needs and also a new willingness, new interest in having a closer cooperation, not only with Colombia or Ecuador. As you rightly mentioned, we also have a cooperation with Peru. We have a bilateral agreement with them. We had the official visit in Peru last October. I think all countries in Latin America, they really want to be part of the partnership. And one of the worries for some of them is that it's not to remain excluded from new forms of cooperation, for instance, working group on the ports from the EU and Latin America. Also, there are new risks like in Peru. There is a new port built with the Chinese funds that will be the entry door of all Chinese products, so potentially NPS or chemical precursors to Latin America. So those countries more than ever need to have a cooperation, a strengthened cooperation with the EU. But at the same time, I think what they express is that there is a need to reinvent and to be more innovative for the cooperation also on human development. And I think that's certainly an important point. Fight to fight against drug production and trafficking, it's not only about controlling the ports, certainly we have, they and we have huge challenges talking about control in the ports, being in Latin America or in Europe, but it's about human development. And we see that in countries, there are countries there where the situation is really out of control. And it combines or it accumulates so many human social and economic factors that it really gives a highway for organized criminal groups to operate. The problem being, when they are completely, when they have completely infiltrated the society, it's extremely difficult to come back and to reinstall the rule of law. And they're also a country like Colombia that have faced a huge, almost uncontrollable situation 34 years ago. They managed to reinstall the rule of law. There is economic progress and development. And today, they may be still organized criminal group active, certainly they are laboratories. But that's a society, that's a country that is partner of the EU and needs further support. So we are going to continue. We have also an agreement in negotiation that is soon to be approved with the Chile. But the important is that this cooperation is shared as a European is doing like the partnership, the European Port Alliance private public partnership and also other groups, other activities, because they are also better equipped, at least in some of the countries to establish this cooperation. But we need also to continue to build trust. I think, as far as I know, for the colleagues from Europol, for instance, exchanging safely information and making sure that the confidential information will not end up in the hands of criminal organized group is a precondition to be able to exchange information. And still we have problems to make in that area also. Thank you, Director Gustel. We have 24 questions still unanswered, so I will try to summarize a few. But the next question would be for Director, why are the seizures are going up every year, one record year after the other, why so many seizures? I could simply say that because law enforcement officers are working very hard on a daily basis. That's certainly one part of the answer. But what is very important is that we have a good intelligence picture. And I must say that the last years, all the law enforcement agencies and also the team of Alexis, we were really working on a good intelligence, on good intelligence. We need to have a good picture on the situation of drugs in the EU. This intelligence picture is much better than before. And this gives us the opportunity to align our resources and to align our approach. We have not only intelligence in who the criminal networks are, but also in what is their modus operandi, what are the routes they are using. We even have a good view on the changes in the routes. Now, for instance, from Latin America, the drugs transported to the European Union are passed by through the West African coast. So it's important for our investigations to have this good intelligence picture. And this is also thanks to the encrypted platforms that we were able to look at, and that gave us in fact unprecedented insights in how serious and organized crime organized their business. We saw that they use crime as a service. We saw who are behind these networks, who are the high value targets. We had good insights in how they launder their money, and we also had a good insight in the infrastructure they use for their business. And this led to much more seizures in the European Union, much more arrests linked to these investigations. We have to continue that way. That is why we are also currently working on a mapping exercise to have a view for the whole European Union, or which are the most threatening criminal networks for the European Union. This will also give us the opportunity to allocate our resources where they are needed from a European perspective and from a national perspective. Thank you for your reply. There are three questions on synthetic drugs. So I expect the majority is interested in synthetic drugs. Also a good question for both speakers. So European Union as a production continent for synthetic drugs, is there a rise in synthetic drugs? Which synthetic drugs are you concerned about? Maybe we continue quickly with excerpt directed by Bolle and then we give the floor to Director Gustil on synthetic drugs. Yes, synthetic drugs are produced at an industrial scale in fact in the European Union. We know that the countries that are most affected are the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. They are key production areas. It's a serious concern, of course, for the law enforcement community and for the society. We have more and more reports about this so-called zombie drug that increased. More than 70,000 people lost their lives related already to the zombie drugs in the United States. And in the European Union we are confronted with Xilazine that is also mixed with ketamine, synthetic opioids or heroin. Recently we did produce a report on Trank to all the partners and we will keep monitoring this situation. And maybe you have heard already about Flaka. This is also a new synthetic drug we see. What we also see in the European Union is that new drugs are made, new synthetic products, illegal products are put on the market on a small scale in a small city. There is an organized group behind and then they look at the consequences of putting this product on the market. Is it profit? Do they have profit out of that or don't they have profit out of that? This is for instance what happened also with Flaka in some small cities and it really has a very fast influence on the human behavior. It is a cheap drug and it's a very dangerous drug. It is extremely addictive. So we are very worried about all these new types of synthetic drugs that we find on a very regular basis in the European streets. Yes, thank you, Catherine. Just to complement, I think I had an interesting discussion in Brussels with some colleagues a few days ago and I was surprised that the scientific base, the information we share is not always easy to understand. At least it's my experience. So here to say simply we have two categories, two groups of substances that are synthetic. One group is made of the more classical ones, amphetamines, methamphetamines, ecstasy. European Union is a worldwide producer and exporter of ecstasy. We have industrial capacity of product, we have discovered in Europe more than 430 or 450 laboratories with some of them with the industrial capacity of production for those substances. Luckily for the moment those substances there seems to be more for export to other regions of the world. We don't observe yet an increase in the use, at least there is no strong increase in the use of cocaine or methamphetamines. Still when we speak about methamphetamine what is also extremely worrying is the observation we received from Europol that in those cases the chemists, the cooks, either they are Mexican or they are following the production methods that are typical of the Mexican cartels. And we know from information we received for instance from the DEA that it seems that the Mexican cartels have a strategy or an objective to control that market worldwide. So the fact that now we find some of those cooks involved in laboratories that have been dismantled and the production in Europe is worrying. Then there is a second group of substances that are called the new psychoactive substances. They are all chemical so they are all synthetic. We have a special system, an early warning system to detect and alert on those substances that is working since 97. That's a system we operate together with Europol. Just to give you another of importance until two, three years ago we were detecting one new substance that never appeared ever on the European market. There was one new substance per week. For the moment we are one new substance every two weeks, more or less. Over the last 27 years we have detected 950 new substances. Some of them have stayed in the market. Some others have disappeared. But last year we had more than 400 of those substances who appeared here and there somewhere on the European market. And some of them just were detected through police or the customs or because of some acute cases of intoxication. What is a frequent question we receive is about fentanyl. So to explain what is fentanyl, it's very simple. They belong to synthetic opioids and the synthetic opioids they are chemical, purely chemical molecules that mimic the structure of heroin and other opioids that are coming from opium. So I would say they are from vegetal origin. They act at the level of the same receptors in the brain, but they don't have the same properties. And many of those substances, nobody knows their properties, which means some of them they are very potent. They can kill very quickly. And of course those who produce and smuggle them and smell and sell them are not aware of the toxicity or the possible effect. So the fentanyl, they appeared on the drug market 12 years ago. So it's not as recent as it is in the U.S. And those substances, they mostly come from China and increasingly in the recent year part of them is coming from India. Still, the main bird so far was coming from China and China is also exporting to the EU a lot of chemicals and chemical precursors that are used to produce other substances. So that's that's a direct threat on the European market. So the frequent question we receive is are we going there is a problem in a huge problem in the U.S. More or less 120,000 people, 140,000 people dying every year from overdose from opiates and essentially from fentanyl. And there is, of course, worry or concern that we could be one day invaded a bit later after the U.S. by those fentanyl. What we have done the analysis we have conducted all the day on the basis of all the data those collected by Europol and the data collected by us show that for the moment there is not such a risk. Why first because the first wave of fentanyl arrived in the context of the new psychoactive substances. They are still appearing, but also this group of synthetic opiates is changing because as Katrin described very well, but the producer and the trafficker this they try they test some substances. Some of them they are being put under control at European level, thanks to our early warning system and the contribution of our work. So they try and change for other substances, but there are plenty of different categories of synthetic opiates. So today, as Katrin said, we see another group of molecules that are synthetic opiates that are the netazines. So that's one of the reasons why nobody can predict that there will be a huge wave of fentanyl arriving in one year or two years in Europe. There is one caveat, which is that last year, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the government of the Taliban has put the production of opium under control. It has been prohibited by the Taliban's and and the satellite imaging shows that at least in big provinces where there is a huge production of of poppy like in Elmand. This ban has an impact and effect 95 98%. This means that if it continues to be banned and controlled as it is for the moment, one day, this means that there will be a drought of heroin and natural opiates on the territory of the European Union. And then, as it has been the case already 20 years ago with the previous government of the Taliban in Afghanistan, there may be changes on the drug market. And certainly there is a major risk that where people were using heroin, but the heroin market represent 17% of the total estimated value of the market today. So it's not the only drugs and it's not everybody that is using synthetic opiates. But among those who use heroin, they certainly will be pushed because of the drought to change their behavior to change substance and to change the root of administration. This is why we admitted and we provided the member states and the commission and the council with the recommendations and some of them are very simple. It's not the moment to reduce the investment in the offer for treatment for prevention and for harm reduction interventions, including a naloxone. It's extremely important because the only medicine, the only drug that can save lives is naloxone. But with those new substances, those new synthetic opiates that are much stronger, basically the simple administration of naloxone is not enough. And this is why we are going in the coming months to continue to monitor together with the Europe or to monitor the situation and to provide or produce together with the member states. A new risk communication when needed and a new information about what are the updates that it would be useful to make. For instance, for the legislation allowing for the provision of naloxone to make sure that if and when there is a widespread use of new synthetic opiates that the system in place for treatment and responses in the member states will be ready already in advance ready to cope and to address the situation. Thank you, Director Gustel. We're slowly coming reaching 4pm, respectively 3pm in Lisbon. So I would say two last questions I try to summarize and I would also like to give the opportunity to both principles to have some closing remarks in case there's something they would like to say, which hasn't been requested yet. So maybe there are a number of questions on the organized crime gangs behind their questions on Albanians, their question on Mexicans, but let's not look into nationalities. Maybe a question for ex-director de Bolle, if there is an understanding of the crime groups which are active, the networks behind and maybe a summarizing question for director Gustel. There are some questions on legalizing, regulating what to do with substance abuse, so more this angle, different questions, so maybe something you would like to elaborate on. And I would like to give both principles also the possibility to have some closing remarks. So maybe let's start with ex-director de Bolle on the criminal groups behind and then we move over to director Gustel on legalizing, regulating the drug market. Yes, the criminal groups behind the EU drug market is very diverse, very flexible, very adaptable. They are exploiting in fact the legal businesses to do their business. They use the opportunities offered by the digital economy to make use of cryptocurrencies for their payments. They are active in the drug market area. And what we also see is that criminals rely on other criminals to expend their network or to, they rely on brokers, which give them the flexibility to diversify the sources, the products, the trafficking lines, the concealment methods and everything, and which increases their efficiency of course. In Europe, together with the Belgium presidency and with the Commission, we are looking at these criminal networks that are the most threatening, that are mostly threatening the European internal security. We came at the moment already to 800 groups, criminal groups that are a real threat to the internal security in the European Union. I would invite you for the press conference on the 3rd of April. Today, we will explain how these criminal groups work, who these criminal groups are, and the information is very relevant because we consulted not only the 27 member states, but also third countries and third parties that are active in the fight against serious and organized crime. The size of these groups is different, the nationalities are different, but we will be able to explain you that. Regarding the new initiatives concerning the possibility to regulate market like the cannabis policy, possible changes at European level, let me first explain that if we compare with other countries and other regions in the world, I think one of the characteristics in Europe for those countries like Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands or Czech Republic that are considering some legislative initiatives to regulate the market. First of all, the approach is not the same for all those countries in the EU, that's the first point. The second is certainly something we have in common in Europe compared with other regions of the world, like in the US, is that if one day there is a more widespread model for regulating, this will certainly not be a model that is just self regulated by the market. First of all, because we know that talking about self regulation of capitalism actually is not true and the economists know very well that the markets are never regulating themselves, this is hence the importance of the public authority. And certainly in Europe, that's something that would remain. And therefore, the second point is there are different options and the main, the first question is what is the objective that is driving the initiative, the new legislative initiative. What we see for instance in countries like Canada, and if for those of you who are interested, we are a few publications and analysis that we have developed, including on the cannabis policy in the Americas on the website of the MCDDA. What you can see is in Canada there is a role for the state and there is a priority that is given to public health. In Europe what we see is that the different projects, they had a different starting point. Some of them have reached more or less the same conclusion if you look at what is the practice in Malta or in Luxembourg or the recent decision in Germany. It's much more reduced than what was initially announced. One of the reasons is that the EU member states have agreed and decide on the set of common rules. Some of them in the context of Schengen or the Marchéunique, the common market, which means that they define themselves the rules that would make very difficult to commercialize, for instance, to allow for commercialization of cannabis and cannabis product. And of course when I speak about a regulated market, I don't speak about medical use of cannabis and cannabis because that's another topic and that's another discussion. So for the moment what we can say is even for the countries that have not taken some new legislative initiatives, the focus in the last 20, 25 years, the most 30 years was certainly to even if the legal systems are different and if the legislations are different, the approach was to avoid, for instance, to put people in jail just because of single use or simple use of cannabis. It doesn't mean that in some countries there is no policy of harassment of the simple cannabis user. This happened, it has happened in the past. But if we listen to the actors from the field, whether they are from law enforcement or for health or social sanitary sector, I think the approach is and one of the intentions behind some of those proposals is to try to cut the access to the market to criminal organized groups. And the second is to make sure that there is in one way or in another a way to decriminalize the use, at least if there are no illegal activities or crimes, criminal activities. And also, as it is the case in the Netherlands, the pilot projects that are covering only a few municipalities is a test that was launched by the authorities in order to see how could be addressed the problem of the backdoor of the coffee shops, for which there is a tolerance, but the coffee shop in the current system, but the only way for them to acquire cannabis is to buy it to buy illicit cannabis and to buy it to criminal organized groups. So, but again, that's a social experiment. There will be an evaluation. And what I can say is that the MCDDA and soon the EUDA is providing is first of all closely monitoring, following those those new developments, not only in the in the EU but for instance in the And as far as the EU is concerned, we are providing support to the member states that are planning or discussing some of those initiatives, we are helping them to work on what could be possible indicators for the evaluation. I think the one of the biggest challenges for those legislative changes, whether the existing ones or in the future is to be clear on what is the objective. The second challenge is to make sure that what is decided as a chance to lead to the expected results. And then the third element is to put in place the conditions to make a clear evaluation. And for instance, we know that for instance in some states in the US, there are no robust data for the evaluation. Just the fact that in some states the private sector has invested 10 or 15 billions of dollars. Nobody can seriously pretend that private sector invest such a big amount of money to lose clients and to go bankrupt. This means that the objective cannot be or those who initiate those projects cannot pretend the objective is to reduce cannabis use. You can propose to have a safer cannabis use. You can make sure that there are no pesticides. You can reduce the risk for high overdosing or too high concentration in THC. There may be different possible and viable objectives, but to pretend that since the legalization people have reduced their consumption is not working like that. And that's one of the challenges that the EU member states who are considering or took measures recently, they are all investing time and resources to closely assess what was the situation before they took some new measures and to develop an evaluation mechanism that will allow in a few years from now to have the most robust possible scientific evidence about what has been working and what has not been working. In the same way that for instance in Canada, Canada is a country that has a very strong experience in the evaluation of public policies. There was a report published recently that indicates some results, some results that were not expected or some difficulties that have appeared. It doesn't mean that the entire system needs to be changed, but it needs to be adapted. And I think that's one of the things we are going to observe. With the challenge of course that is mentioned by many member states, especially those who are neighbors of those who have decided to regulate at least partly the cannabis market, is that the neighbors that do not follow the same approach have some concerns and some questions about what could be the likely impact. But it's part of what we are supposed to study and to follow. And that's a very important and interesting experience for us to follow. Thank you very much, Director Gustel. Any very quick final remarks from your side in general, or otherwise I would give the floor for final remarks to Director de Bolle? I'm happy to give the floor to Director de Bolle. Alright, then Kasprin de Bolle accept our beautiful final remarks from your side and then we are closing the call. Yes, thank you Alexi. I think we all want to take the safety and the security of our communities as very serious business and I agree completely with Alexis when he's talking about this multidisciplinary approach. And we need this multidisciplinary approach to confront the challenges of the illegal drugs market. We have to look at the user side. We have to look at the supply chain of the drugs and we have to do this together with the society and with the different actors in the society. I know it's an uphill battle. And I know that a lot of people are discouraged by sometimes they think that they don't have enough impact in what they do, but we cannot give up. And we have to continue in this approach together and we have a responsibility, we all have a responsibility related to the safety and the security of the citizens in the European Union. As law enforcement community I can say that we stand ready. We continue to fight against illegal, the illicit drugs market and we will continue to do so together with the partners. Thank you very much ex-CEF Director de Bolle. Then we're coming to an end for those that would like to follow those two agencies as has been communicated. The MCDDA will be soon the European Union Drug Agency so keep your eyes open for communication from our sister agent Lisbon. For those interested in a criminal mapping exercise as Director de Bolle announced a press conference on the 3rd of April in Brussels on the 900 identified drugs criminal groups in Europe. From the hate-European headquarters, thank you for your attention. I don't know if I give back to Kathy and Lisbon. Otherwise from Europe side, thank you for your attention. Thank you to both principles for the insights and a good afternoon to everybody. Thank you very much Jan and we can close now. Thank you to everybody. Bye.