Synthetic drugs - no longer a phenomenon but a real danger for people living in the EU

Thirty participants from 20 EU Member States took part in the CEPOL course 09/2014 "Fighting drugs and strategic perspectives in synthetic drugs", held in Bratislava, Slovakia on 29 September – 3 October 2014. The course was organised by Slovakia with the support of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Europol.

The main aim of the course was to develop further cooperation in the effective fight against drugs and to show all participants the dangers of synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances.

Participants were presented with National and EU legislation with regards to new psychoactive substances and synthetic drugs in general. Additionally, special legislation focused on medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which is mainly used in the production of methamphetamine in the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.

Other topics and case studies included:

• Europol products and services for law enforcement units in the drug field – who also shared some successful cases with international links in order to demonstrate international police cooperation.

• Practical activities including the work of the Slovak police service dogs.

• The tactical work of the intervention team of the National Crime Agency of the Presidium of the Police Force – the intervention in a provisional lab hiding dangerous substances like flammable drug precursors and cutting agents.

• Presentation of the new system and methodology on the joint work of different special units during the dismantling of labs and evidence collecting.

Marián Geleta, the Director of the National Drug Enforcement Unit of the National Crime Agency of the Presidium of the Police Force in the Slovak Republic encouraged participants to cooperate with each other “For a clean and safe Europe”.