This publication is addressing new challenges and developments in criminal law
politics from a European perspective, focusing on the application of alternatives to
coercive measures as response to drug offences and drug-related crimes. The study is
based on the results of a 2 years international research project “Illicit Drugs and Drug
Offences (IDDO),” supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations (Zug).
The study covers three European countries—Austria, Poland, and Spain. It
includes an analysis of the national legislation on the criminalization of illicit drugs
and the handling of drug-addicted offenders, and of its implementation and application
in practice. It explains national policies for the treatment of substance abuse.
Furthermore, it comprises the evaluation of drug laws and policies by practitioners
both from the judicial and the treatment sector. The basic presumption of the project
can be summarized as follows: The core point of handling drug addiction and drugrelated
criminal delinquency is to take into account that drug addiction is a psychiatric
disorder and a chronic disease.