ABSTRACT
The development of the illegal drug markets in Europe is not a geographically distinct phenomenon. From its beginning, it was embedded in an international landscape, which requires a broadening of the scope of our story. Part of that broadening is directed to the US, which may wrongly give the reader the impression of an insertion of a subsidiary theme: ‘US and drugs’, with other countries following as mere puppets. As social surveys indicate, most illegal drugs are viewed as harmful in many countries, and their use attracts widespread disapproval.1 However, as we will see, there is no ‘subsidiary theme’, but an interwoven pattern of policy threads, in which the US component has traditionally but not universally been very strong, as the real or apparent formulator of the drugs policy. Indeed, many brands of drug, like cocaine, heroin and MDMA, were discovered or invented in Europe during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the impact of their consumption was first felt and disapproved of in the US, after which there followed international prohibition. As the illicit drug market is mainly shaped by the nature of its prohibition regime, which also started in the US, a description of its development in Europe should therefore be projected against the nature and reach of the US prohibition policy and its huge impact on the European drug markets. The reasons for this impact are very diverse and cannot be fully elaborated here. Nevertheless, a few aspects of this broader policy landscape have to be indicated. Two clusters can be discerned: the carry-over of domestic drug issues into foreign policy; and the extent of the presence of military, customs and police officers abroad.
