How to improve the surveillance of the Taliban ban's impact on European drug markets

Giommoni, Luca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3127-654X 2024. How to improve the surveillance of the Taliban ban's impact on European drug markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 124 , 104320. 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104320

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Abstract

In April 2023, the Taliban banned poppy cultivation and the trade of all narcotics. This caused a 95% reduction in opium production. Usually, that would be good news. But there is a substantial worry: synthetic opioids might fill the void left by heroin. This is concerning because these drugs have led to health emergencies in areas where they are prevalent. This paper highlights the limitations of the current drug surveillance system in Europe and proposes improvements. It argues that reliance on secondary data is insufficient. Instead, we need to interview a sentinel group of people who inject drugs and adjust city-level sentinel systems, such as wastewater analysis, to specifically track the spread of synthetic opioids. Without these proactive steps, we risk only noticing a transition from heroin to synthetic opioids after it has occurred, with its harmful impacts already in place.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0955-3959
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 February 2024
Date of Acceptance:	3 January 2024
Last Modified:	19 Feb 2024 11:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166317

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