The forthcoming ratification of the agreement by the Croatian parliament will mark the formalisation of long-standing cooperation between the government's Office for Combating Drugs Abuse and the EMCDDA. Being an observer until its admission to the EU, Croatia is entitled to appoint its representative to the EMCDDA management board, according to the document signed in Brussels.
The Croatian office has been delivering drug abuse reports to that EU agency for four years.
In 2011, the government's office will conduct a first comprehensive national survey on use of narcotics and illegal substances which will be comparable to similar surveys in the EU.
The survey will be financed by the EU, Klaric told a news conference in Zagreb last Tuesday..
Interior Ministry official Zoran Babic said at the news conference that in the last 11 months Croatian police had seized 98 kilograms of heroin, 368 kilograms of cannabis, 12 kilograms of cocaine, 5 kilograms of amphetamines and 152,000 ecstasy pills.
Klaric recalled that the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance had been keeping statistics about drug addicts for more than 30 years.
According to some estimates presented by Klaric, between 50,000-60,000 people in Croatia are believed to abuse drugs.