On the basis of an external evaluation of the EU drugs strategy 2005-12, on 7 December 2012 the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union endorsed a new EU drugs strategy (2013-20). The strategy was designed to be implemented by two consecutive 4-year action plans. An external evaluation of the first action plan (2013-16) was completed in 2016 and used to inform the drafting of the new action plan (2017-20). This analysis takes a look at the EU drugs strategy (2013-20), its mid-term evaluation and some new elements that have been incorporated into the strategy.