A thickening plot: components and complexities in the political framing of the smoking problem in Sweden, 1957–1993

Abstract

Swedish state regulation of tobacco use came much later than the regulation of alcohol and drugs. Only in 1993 did the first more comprehensive regulatory actthe Swedish Tobacco Actcome into force. By examining the political prehistory of the act in 1957-1993, this article analyses the increasingly complex problem description that made the new legislation possible. The article shows that different parts of the problem descriptionharms to others, a connection to the public health discourse, and an increasing medicalisationcame to reinforce each other, but also that all essential components were in place from the outset and that research confirmed established descriptions rather than drove the development.

The new suit of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD): A well-tailored costume for tackling research and challenges ahead

“…This research field thereafter diminished, but is now revived ( Brolin Låftman et al, 2019 ; Cisneros Örnberg & Hettne, 2018 ; Forsström & Cisneros Örnberg, 2019 ; Samuelsson et al, 2018 ) and in focus in the research programme Responding to and Reducing Gambling Problems Studies (REGAPS). Tobacco has moved up and down as a research topic ( Blomqvist, 2009 ; Edman & Berndt, 2019 ; Östergren et al, 2018 ; Sohlberg, 2014 ), but failed to establish itself as a core subject – primarily due to difficulties in receiving funding despite the crucial role of smoking in the global burden of disease. What is now described as social epidemiology was already previously strong at SoRAD and it may be fair to say that this line of research now dominates the research on addictive substances and behaviours at the department, as it constitutes a clear intersection between the two incorporated research centres.…”

“…Hellman (2018a) has argued that a conceptual epistemic mainstreaming has taken place in which the areas of alcohol, drugs and tobacco have been brought together into a public health frame and policy – a development underpinned by international treaties, the WHO, and diagnostic classification systems, and which is driven both by political motives and advances in neurosciences. It is therefore important to study contested and changing problem definitions and the consequences of choices among them ( Edman & Berndt, 2018 , 2019 ; Edman & Olsson, 2014 ; Forsström & Samuelsson, 2018 ; Storbjörk, 2018 ).…”

A Century of Dissonance and Harmony in Swedish Intoxication Policy

“…The very idea of there being a group of people predisposed to heavy tobacco use has, in fact, been condemned as 'ludicrous' by a researcher in this field (Nordlund 2005: 337). The fact that we consume roughly the same amount of alcohol now as we did in the mid 1970s, while smoking has declined radically, shows the importance of choosing the right explanatory model as policy support (Edman & Berndt 2020). Drugs may have been banned long ago, but they share the tobacco model of addiction.…”

“…In Sweden, too, the state is an important economic stakeholder, and irrespective of the daily-quoted market friendliness of the current government, there is an interest to direct the significant tax revenue from the sales of alcohol into the public treasury. The historical development of the Swedish tobacco and gambling market also shows that the national public health ambitions have hardly been devoid of crude financial interests (Edman & Berndt 2020). The Swedish people will not be gifted any new tax-free sins.…”