Drug Control as a National Project: The Case of Sweden

Abstract

During the 1980s, the slogan a “drug-free society” became the catchword of the official narcotics policy in Sweden. An analysis based on platforms of the political parties, parliamentary bills, and the debate in national newspapers and journals tries to explain why the reactions against drugs have become so strong despite data showing that the problem is limited and not increasing. The interpretation is made that one reason why reactions against drugs have become so strong and so widespread in Sweden is that they serve the function of strengthening a threatened national identity in a situation where the traditional “Swedish Model” has come under increasingly hard attack from both inside and outside the country.

Drugs on Prescription – The Swedish Experiment of 1965–67 in Retrospect

“…Research [32] and experiences from Britain [33], where heroin has been prescribed since the 1920s, indicate that numerous problems are involved 7 Swedish drug policy and its roots have been analysed by Lenke et al [28]. An empirically based critique of Swedish policy is also presented by Tham [29,30]. Kühlhorn et al [31] show the more appreciative approach, so far only formulated in general terms, that as police resources have increased, the drug problem has diminished.…”

Mixed Messages from Europe on Drug Policy Reform: The Cases of Sweden and the Netherlands

“…The number of these programs available in Sweden, however, remains tightly restricted, and abstention-based treatment methods (including those that are coercive) are preferred. As a result, the illicit drug situation in Sweden has become entwined with national identity, with the life of the dependent drug user being held up as the antithesis of the life of a good citizen (Tham, 1995). Illicit drugs have also been conceptualized as a problem that has come from outside Sweden and which constitutes a threat to the Swedish lifestyle (Gould, 1994).…”

Swedish Drug Policy and the Vision of the Good Society

“…The social engineering approach is replaced by a moral engineering approach and crime and crime policy become part of the creation of 'the social' (Robert Andersson 2002:180-5). Linking these analyses to one that interprets the Swedish drug policy since the 1980s as a means of reinforcing a threatened national identity (Tham 1995) the increasing stress on society on behalf of the individual should not be unexpected.…”