ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a commentary on the possible consequences of waning political attention for drug policy outcomes, informed by analysis of the role of expertise in generating and preserving normative consensus at the European Union level. The role of expertise in framing and shaping drug policy is a phenomenon that has received relatively little attention. In practice the credentials of designated drug experts are not placed under any real scrutiny and the impact of their role is routinely seen as uncontroversial, benign and essential to ensure policymaking is qualitatively efficient. The concept of epistemic communities focuses on the role played by networks of 'knowledge-based experts' in articulating the cause-and-effect relationships of complex problems, helping states identify their interests, framing the issues for collective debate, proposing specific policies, and identifying salient points for negotiation. Critical to the definition of an epistemic community is its possession of an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge.
