Prevalence and patterns of drug use expert meeting 2019

The 2019 annual expert meeting on the EMCDDA epidemiological indicator ‘Prevalence and patterns of drug use among the general population’ (often referred to as the 'General population surveys indicator') takes place on 28 and 29 May at the EMCDDA in Lisbon.

The meeting brings together experts from almost all EU Member States and Norway, Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Switzerland, USA and Uzbekistan.

These regular meetings on the indicator change their focus from year to year. This year particular attention was given to methodological developments on the indicator, the way surveys can be used to measure different topics other than illicit drugs, the link between drug use surveys and other drug-related monitoring tools. In addition, targeted surveys in drug use served as a platform for discussion on drug use issues more broadly.

A working session for Western Balkans participants is also taking place. The objective of this session is to launch a discussion on how to present GPS results in the six EMCDDA- IPA6 project countries.