Join Efus’ coalition of cities and regions committed to strengthening and promoting local policies to combat drug-related violence and harm.
Agenda
- December 2025: Efus launches the two-year, EU-funded CAPABLE project, which will seek to strengthen cooperation, knowledge exchange and capacity building among stakeholders involved in dealing with drug use in public spaces, through the Erasmus+ programme.
- 20 November 2025: the French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) takes part in a one-day event on preventing drug trafficking and the recruitment of vulnerable young people, as part of a Day on Public Peace organised in the city of Angers Loire Métropole (France).
- 18 November 2025: the Executive Committee of the French Forum for Urban Security adopts a resolution calling for supporting and strengthening the administrative approach against ‘suspicious trade’, including the use of shops for money-laundering linked to drug trafficking.
- 16 October 2025: Webinar Efus-PiOC on Youth Recruitment and Drug Trafficking
- July 2025 : as part of the University Diploma on Urban Security and Urban Life, which is jointly organised by the French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) and the University of Versailles- Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, course on Drugs and security: reducing harm, preventing and combatting trafficking provided by the French Addiction Federation.
- 20 June 2025: Bordeaux’s General Assembly on preventing drug use and trafficking among young people. Intervention by Elizabeth Johnston, Efus and FFSU Executive Director, on how local and regional authorities can respond to drug trafficking.
- June 2025: Training session given by the French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) and the French Addiction Federation on “preventing addiction and reducing risks”.
- 21-22 May 2025: During the FFSU’s yearly general conference on local security (“Assises de la sécurité des territoires”) in Toulouse, two sessions are devoted to the local impact of trafficking and organised crime. See the reports (in French) here and here. Watch the video here.
- March 2025: Online training session on “understanding and acting against trafficking” organised by the French Forum for Urban Security.
- February 2025: Field visit of the port of Rotterdam’s integrated system to prevent and combat trafficking on site.
- January 2025: the Executive Committee of the French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) welcomes the adoption by the French Senate (upper assembly) of measures supporting a more integrated approach to drug trafficking that combines intervention by the police, the justice system, healthcare and crime prevention.
- December 2024: Launch of the Coalition of the Willing. Efus’ Executive Committee adopts a resolution calling for a coalition of European cities and regions.
- October – November 2024 – EUDA strategic meetings: Efus joins the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) in Lisbon and speaks at their conference in Brussels on drug-related violence.
- March 2024: Efus triennal Security, Democracy and Cities Conference in Brussels – Key Sessions on Drugs and Trafficking
Several prevention programmes are being implemented in the city of Amsterdam (Netherlands) to prevent young people from entering ‘criminal careers’ in drug trafficking. These programmes are based on large partnerships involving a wide range of local stakeholders as well as families.
The cities of Berlin, Essen and Hannover (Germany) are taking part in a privately-funded project to design municipal strategies for dealing with synthetic opioids. The project concerns both drug users and all relevant local stakeholders confronted with the impact of this type of drug.
> More on the German Forum for Urban Security’s (DEFUS) website
The city of Bordeaux (France) organises awareness sessions in local schools to alert young people on the risk of drug consumption, as part of its overall Drug Consumption and Trafficking Prevention Plan.
The Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium) is implementing a wide-ranging strategy to prevent violence related to drug trafficking, through the regional public body in charge of crime prevention, safe.brussels. A meeting was organised in November with all the stakeholders involved in protecting young people from such violence.
> More here
The Regional Authority of Corsica (France) is implementing a wide-ranging strategy to prevent and counter organised crime, which includes, among other initiatives, education to legality.
> Read our exclusive interview with Lauda Giudicelli, Executive Councillor of the Corsica Regional Authority
The city and urban community of La Rochelle (France) have led for several years a wide-ranging primary prevention programme to prevent young people from consuming drugs or being recruited into trafficking.
In the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), one of Europe’s main points of entry for drugs, port personnel are given training on how to avoid being recruited by organised crime into offloading drugs or other criminal activities. The training method is based on virtual reality and sessions take place in a dedicated ‘training container’.
> More in this article
The city of Rennes (France) has led a communication campaign targeting young people to prevent them being from recruited by drug traffickers, as part of its global prevention strategy.
> More here (in French)
The city of Tilburg (Netherlands) works with families of organised crime members to lead them out of crime.
> More in this article and in our practice sheet [PS_Tilburg_OrganisedCrime-Families_Ongoing] here (reserved for members)
- EUDA – European Union Drugs Agency
- Fédération Addiction
- Council of Europe – Drugs and Addictions (Pompidou Group)
- European Harm Reduction Network (EuroHRN)
- Civil Society Involvement in Drug Policy
Efus podcasts
- Reportage : Immersion dans une salle de consommation à moindre risque (in French, 17min)
- La criminalité organisée en Europe : un défi majeur pour les collectivités et institutions (in French, 19 min)
- Visite immersive du centre TRANSIT, un lieu d’accueil et d’hébergement pour les usagers de drogues (in French, 22 min)
- Tackling organised crime through dialogue: The Spaanse Polder Café in Rotterdam (18 min)
Further reading
- Building resilient communities: The local roots and impacts of organised crime (policy brief prepared in the framework of the IcARUS project led by Efus between 2020 and 2024.
Local action is essential to combatting drug-related violence and trafficking in Europe.
The EUDA 2024 report warns of the multifaceted impact of drugs in Europe. While strengthening police and judicial action (national prosecutors’ offices, dedicated police stations) is essential in the face of organised crime, it is not enough.
To combat it effectively, major investment in resilience and prevention is crucial. This means supporting individuals and groups, educating them about risky behaviour, and protecting our businesses and towns from the clutches of organised crime.
It is precisely in this area of prevention that local and regional authorities have a key role to play, in perfect complementarity with law enforcement action. Europe’s cities and regions are on the front line, faced with violence, trafficking and the challenges of social cohesion. Many of them are already developing comprehensive, innovative and effective local strategies to prevent and combat crime. These initiatives demonstrate the potential of local solutions to the challenges posed by drugs and trafficking.
Faced with the scale of the illegal drugs market, it’s easy for elected representatives and those working in the field to feel discouraged and overwhelmed. The aim of this coalition is to find, through collective action, tools to strengthen prevention and the fight against drug-related violence.
A proactive and pragmatic coalition of European cities and regions to strengthen, share and promote these promising initiatives:
- Give greater visibility to existing solutions and encourage their development.
- Strengthen and promote local drug prevention, anti-trafficking and anti-violence policies, highlighting success stories.
- Demonstrate the effectiveness of local collective action and European cooperation in disseminating and adapting existing solutions.
- To develop and disseminate innovative tools, methodologies and good practice, drawing on the positive experiences of local and regional authorities.
- Mobilise European and international policies so that local and regional authorities can obtain the resources they need to implement their strategies and meet the challenges posed by trafficking today.
- Combat the fatalism that often characterises discourse in this field.
Learn more about this initiative launched in response to the drugs crisis affecting many European cities and regions and let us know here if you’re interested in joining the Coalition as a local elected official, city professional, NGO or researcher.
You can contact us at: coalitionofthewilling@efus.eu
Read the full declaration:
