AN EVALUATION OF THE BELGIAN DRUG POLICY: DO THE POLICY INTENTIONS REMAIN INTACT?
Although Belgium has had the same drug policy for more than 20 years, it has never been subjected to a thorough evaluation. This article presents the conclusions of an overall evaluation of Belgian drug policy. The triangulation of different research methods (focus groups (four, n=32), semi- structured inter-views (n=39), document analyses) allowed the evaluation to examine how policy intentions (policy in the books) relate to policy in practice. The evaluation revealed a discrepancy between both, in particular with regard to an integral and integrated drug policy, the intention to adopt an evidence- based ap-proach, and contradictions in the policy of normalization.