Risk assessment of new psychoactive substances - EMCDDA - Europa

IntroductionThese guidelines are a revision of the Guidelines for the risk assessment of newsynthetic drugs ( 1 ). A revision was deemed necessary as a result of thereplacement of the Joint Action of 16 June 1997 concerning the informationexchange, risk-assessment and control of new synthetic drugs ( 2 ) (hereafter the‘Joint Action’) by Council Decision 2005/387/JHA of 10 May 2005 on theinformation exchange, risk-assessment and control of new psychoactivesubstances ( 3 ) (hereafter the ‘Council Decision’). An evaluation of the Joint Actionconcluded that it needed a re-orientation with respect to its objective and scope.Furthermore, the evaluation made clear that clarification of the applicableprocedures and enhancement of the transparency of its operations werenecessary ( 4 ).The principal aim of these guidelines is to put in place a sound methodologicaland procedural basis for carrying out each risk assessment. The risk assessmenthas regard to the health and social risks of the use of, manufacture of, and trafficin the new psychoactive substance, the involvement of organised crime and thepossible consequences of control measures.The guidelines fully reflect the scope and requirements of Council Decision2005/387/JHA as well as the knowledge accumulated in the Member States andby the EMCDDA over the years. The text includes appropriate references to thelegal framework and the full text of the Decision is provided in the Appendix foradded clarity.The guidelines were finalised and adopted by the EMCDDA’s Scientific Committeeduring its 29 th meeting on 17–18 November 2008. However, they are the result ofextensive developmental work undertaken by the EMCDDA through a complexand laborious process. In this respect, I would like to acknowledge the( 1 ) EMCDDA (1999), Guidelines for the risk assessment of new synthetic drugs,European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon.( 2 ) OJ L 167, 25.6.1997.( 3 ) OJ L 127, 20.5.2005.( 4 ) Proposal for a Council decision on the information exchange, risk-assessment andthe control of new narcotic drugs and new synthetic drugs (Brussels, 3.10.2003;COM (2003) 560 final 2003/0215 (CNS)).11