Edited by Peter Reuter (RAND) and Franz Trautmann (Trimbos Institute)

This document, produced by Rand Europe and Trimbos Institute for the European Commission Directorate-General for Freedom, Justice and Security, provides the key findings of a project assessing how the global market for drugs developed from 1998 to 2007 and describing drug policy around the globe during that period. To the extent data allows, the project assessed how much policy measures, at the national and sub-national levels, have influenced drug problems.

Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The World Drug Report 2013 presents a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in drug markets, covering production, trafficking, consumption and related health consequences. This year's report contains new global data on the number of people who inject drugs and those who inject drugs and are also living with HIV, showing progress and setbacks during the 2008-2011 period.

Authors: Emma Disley, Alexandra Pollitt, Deirdre May Culley and Jennifer Rubin (RAND Europe)

This report, commissioned by the Responsible Gambling Fund (RGF), aims to ‘map the gaps’ in the current evidence base relating to harmful gambling. It sets out findings from a Rapid Evidence Assessment of academic and ‘grey’ literature, describing the quantity and quality of existing research in this field, and highlighting areas in which evidence and knowledge are sparse or lacking.

Author: Lila Rabinovich, Priscillia Hunt, Laura Staetsky, Simo Goshev, Ellen Nolte, Janice Pedersen, Christine Tiefensee (RAND Europe)

In spite of extensive evidence that raising alcohol prices reduces alcohol consumption and harms, the real price of alcoholic beverages is decreasing across the EU. This trend has fuelled debate among policymakers, public health practitioners and other stakeholders across the EU about the opportunities, and challenges, of alcohol pricing policies. This study, produced by RAND Europe for the European Comission, DG SANCO and the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers, aims to contribute a robust evidence base to inform pricing policy in the region. Towards this aim, the study examines in greater detail a number of issues such as tax changes to consumer prices, trends in on- and off-trade alcohol consumption, and the nature and scale of price promotion and discount activity in the EU.

Authors: Edwin Horlings and Amanda Scoggins (RAND Europe)

The European Commission, Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) has asked RAND Europe to contribute to the Commission’s impact assessment of a proposed Communication on alcohol policy. This Communication presents a comprehensive approach to combat the harmful effects of alcohol use in the European Union. RAND Europe has focused exclusively on the economic impacts of DG SANCO’s options.
This report first examines the nature and extent of the problem posed by alcohol use in Europe, which provides the rationale and focus for the associated policy initiative. Next, it developes a conceptual approach that discusses how alcohol use is linked to macroeconomic development. This approach is then used to examine the future impacts of a successful alcohol policy on a number of macroeconomic aspects.