 The illicit drug market is an extremely profitable one and it causes a lot of human damage and suffering. It is important to understand how it works from production to consumption via the different trafficking routes and this report does that. It combines the knowledge of EMCDDA and Europol and helps us understand the whole chain so that we can better combat this phenomenon. The analysis provided by this report is unique as it combines Europol's organizational understanding of trans and organized crime with insights from the EMCDDA's monitoring and data analysis of Europe's drug problem and this in a global context. Two organizations that are committed to reducing levels of drug abuse and to attacking the criminal organizations that are involved in perpetrating the effects of international drug trafficking in Europe. We're seeing quite profound changes happening in the global drug market mirroring the social and developmental changes we're seeing in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America. The drug market changing in these countries in terms of demand and supply and that's having a knock on effect now for the drug market in Europe. We're seeing a much more global phenomenon and a much more joined up phenomenon. The internet is clearly playing a growing role in shaping the drug markets not only by providing a marketplace for new drugs such as so-called legal highs but also for established controlled drugs which are being sold on hidden dark nets. At the same time it's allowing the rapid diffusion of new drug trends by providing access to communication tools as well as expertise, knowledge and logistics. Europe has become quite an important drug producing region and this not just for synthetic drugs but also increasingly for cannabis. The trend here is to produce as close as possible to the consumer market to avoid interception. The consequences of this are for the criminal groups involved to increase their benefits and for our societies that they have to bear the costs, the costs in terms of public health, community safety and also the burden on already stretched police forces is increasing. The European drug producing scene is showing considerable degree of innovation for instance by importing chemicals that are not prohibited, not banned and then transforming them into drug precursors inside Europe from which synthetic drugs can be produced such as APAN which is a pre precursor for amphetamine. It's important to recall that the largest market for any drug in Europe remains the cannabis market with about two and a half thousand tons of cannabis which are consumed every year in the European Union. The domestic cultivation of cannabis in Europe is now widespread. What we see is an increase in some countries in large scale cultivation sites which are run by criminal organisations. We also see that some of them tend to run multiple small scale plantations to mitigate the risks for example the risks of being caught and we see also some violence which is associated with the cannabis industry. International drug trafficking remains the principal activity of organised crime groups in Europe. They're adapting to new criminal opportunities and changing smuggling methods and routes to evade law enforcement. We've noticed an increase in the exploitation of legitimate commercial transportation options such as containers, aircrafts, couriers and postal services and this allows the drugs to be moved through multiple transit points making them harder to intercept. To keep track of moving targets it's important to share intelligence on the location of individuals. Greater police and judicial cooperation makes this possible and it's essential to target and track and disrupt activities of organised crime groups involved in illegal drug business. Heron, a drug that's defined the problem over the last 30 years, now appears to be in decline. In part I think because of the rigorous approach in both demand and supply reduction. On the other side of the coin we're seeing a less discriminating stimulants market and particularly a growing market for synthetic drugs that can be produced near to the consumer. Both unregulated new psychoactive substances and control but previously not widely used drugs are becoming much more important on the European drugs market now and they could be potentially attractive to both old and new groups of users. Examples here include the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agronists and catenones from the group of new drugs and substances like ketamine and methamphetamine. This report is so important and so unique and it will feed into the EU policy cycle for the coming years and gives us a lot of important facts and background.