Drug policy Sweden vs Holland Dr HansChristian Raabe

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Drug policySwedenvsHolland Dr
Hans-Christian Raabe
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Dutch drug policy

• Drug use is seen as a public health matter not
  primarily a criminal issue
• Distinction made between soft and hard drugs
• Both prevention and harm reduction
• Rehabilitation of drug users
• Front door-back door problem

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Coffee shops numbers down 1200 in 1997 -
750 in 2003
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Goal of Swedish drug policy

• To create a drug-free society.The standard
  should be to eliminate drug abuse not simply
  lower it
• Drug abuse can never be accepted as a part of
  our culture. (Parliamentary Bill 1978)

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Swedish National Action Plan on Drugs2006

• The drug policy is based on the right to a life
  with dignity in a society that guards the needs
  of the individual to feel safe and secure.
• Narcotic drugs should never be allowed to
  threaten the health, the quality of life and the
  security of the individual nor the general
  welfare
• The goal is a society free of drugs.

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Principles of Swedish Drug Policy I

• Demand reduction prevention
• No clear distinction made between soft and
  hard drugs (no class A/B/C)
• Compulsory treatment aim abstinence
• Harm-reduction policies for established drug
  misuse (note history of harm reduction in
  1960s)

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Principles of Swedish Drug Policy II

• No clear distinction made between soft and
  hard drugs (no class A/B/C)
• Strong message that cannabis is dangerous
  (gateway)

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Principles of Swedish Drug Policy III

• Demand reduction prevention
• No clear distinction made between soft and
  hard drugs (no class A/B/C)
• Strong message that cannabis is dangerous
  (gateway)
• Compulsory treatment aim abstinence
• Harm-reduction policies for established drug
  misuse (note history of harm reduction in
  1960s)
• Most important strong societal consensus
  supporting the vision of a drug-free society.

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Cannabis
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Risk perception cannabis
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Possible lessons

• A clear message that drugs in general and
  cannabis in particular are harmful can contribute
  to low rate of abuse of cannabis and other drugs.
• Low use of cannabis is associated with a low use
  of other illicit drugs whereas high use of
  cannabis is associated with a high use of other
  illicit drugs
• A strong consensus in politics, education,
  criminal justice system, and public opinion to
  aim for a drug-free society can lead to
  significantly lower drug abuse than accepting or
  accommodating drug misuse.

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• If the war against drugs is lost then so are the
  wars against theft, speeding, incest, fraud,
  rape, murder, arson and illegal parking. Few, if
  any wars are winnable. So let us do anything we
  choose Theodore Dalrymple.