Since the early 2000s, the evaluation of drug policies and strategies has increasingly featured as part of the drugs landscape at European Union (EU) and member state levels. Evaluation is a critical part of the policymaking process. It supports effective policymaking by helping it adapt to changes over time, ensure lessons are learnt from previous successes and failures, and therefore strengthens value for money in the approach taken by the EU and member states to dealing with the drugs issue.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) considers policy evaluation a priority (see Box 1). In December 2023, it updated its online content for the topic overview on drug policy evaluation in Europe.¹ Stakeholders can find links to sources to support policy evaluation, as well as examples of EU and member state outputs on the topic. The overview presents the state of play at the end of 2023 on the focus of national drug strategies and their evaluations.

Background

The first Health Research Board (HRB) conference solely dedicated to alcohol research was held on 14 September 2023 in partnership with the Department of Health. The event was opened by the HRB CEO, Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, who welcomed the support of the Department of Health, which, along with the HRB, recognises the importance of and is committed to progressing alcohol-related research.

One of the objectives of the HRB Strategy 2021–2025 is to collect and report alcohol-related data for policy and service planning purposes, and the event included speakers from across the organisation presenting the work of the HRB.¹ The strategy (key action 3.4) also promotes primary research and secondary data analysis to support drug and alcohol strategies at a national and European level. The HRB also has a responsibility to ‘assist the Department of Health to monitor the Public Health Alcohol Act through data collection, validation, analysis and dissemination’ (implementation action 3.4.4). This important obligation is achieved through the work of the team in the HRB Evidence Centre and through the alcohol overviews published periodically. Dr O’Driscoll acknowledged the work of the HRB, particularly that of the evidence team and the drugs and alcohol policy team, whose work has been instrumental in providing evidence to influence policy. An important example given was of collating key evidence of alcohol-related harm directly influential in the eventual passing of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act in 2018.²