ABSTRACT
This chapter documents the run-up to, and the announcement of, the Federal Drug Policy Note in 2001 which constituted the second milestone in Belgian drugs policy. It explores the work of Prof. Dr. Brice De Ruyver, appointed as the security advisor to Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in these processes, and considered his role in relation to the typology established by Loader and Sparks (2011). Evidence-imbued leadership is imperative in facilitating a central role for evidence use throughout the various stages of the policy process. Within the evidence-imbued leadership, the example of Brice De Ruyver clearly illustrated the intention of the new Government to allocate a larger role to scientific knowledge in the policy-making process. By the mid-2000s, an Inter-Cabinet Working Group (ICWG) had been set up within the lap of the multi-party government coalition to decide on the first national drug strategy.
