control and welfare in danish drug policy - Journal of Drug Issues

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HOUBORGAt the presentation, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice described theplan as a policy of zero tolerance toward what was seen as widespread illegal druguse among young people. The Minister of Justice stated:The Government wants to send a hard and strict signal that we donot tolerate drugs. Therefore, young people should not be let offwith a warning if they are apprehended with even small amountsof drugs. Instead they will receive an immediate fine. (Politiken20.10.2003)In 2004, the Government presented a bill to re-penalize possession for personalconsumption. The ecstasy report from the Chiefs of Police played an important role aspart of the background material for the bill. The Government therefore appropriatedthe arguments presented by the Chiefs of Police that de-penalization had not workedgiven the high prevalence of drug use among young people in Denmark, particularlywith regard to cannabis.History has shown that this practice [de-penalization] has not beensufficiently effective to restrain abuse of illegal euphoriant drugs.Research shows that young people in Denmark abuse cannabis toa larger extent than young people in other countries, for example.(The Office of the Folketing Hansard, 2003–2004, p. 6313).The Government also agreed with the Chiefs of Police that parts of the Danishpopulation had a permissive attitude toward the use of illegal drugs and that therewas a need to make the public accept more responsibility. In the parliamentarydebate, the Minister of Justice expressed this point as follows:The Government is serious when it says that the fight against drugsis to be intensified, and that changing the opinion in the populationis necessary, so as citizens we can all become more attentive and dowhat we can, particularly to avoid young people becoming part ofthe [drug] environment . . . (The Office of the Folketing Hansard,2003–2004, p. 7659)According to the Government, de-penalization had removed responsibilityfor controlling drug use from individuals and families. In this way, the change indrug policy came to reflect a more general trend within a number of policy areasin the 1990s and 2000s toward what was seen as giving individuals, families, andcommunities more responsibility. This has been the case particularly since 2001,when the Prime Minister of the new liberal 5 -conservative Government declared acultural war on what he saw as cultural relativism and a nomenclature of expertsdominated by ideas from the left of the political spectrum and ideas from the youthculture of the 1960s (Lykkeberg, 2008). 6 This trend has been most visible in the areaof penal policy partly as penal sanctions have been one instrument used to make the794 JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES
CONTROL AND WELFARE IN DANISH DRUG POLICYDanes more responsible. Within penal policy, a number of tough-on-crime initiativesand new criminalizations were introduced in the 1990s and 2000s (Balvig, 2004;Nielsen, 2006). In light of these changes in the political culture in Denmark, it ishardly surprising that possession of illegal drugs for personal consumption wouldbe re-penalized in 2004. The policy of de-penalization was an obvious example of awelfare approach to crime control from which the new penal policy was distancingitself. The use of illegal drugs was no longer seen as a symptom of more fundamentalsocial and cultural factors to be addressed through welfare and cultural policies, butas an individual choice by consumers. The fact that consuming illegal drugs wasbecoming increasingly common caused partly by a permissive welfare policy thathad removed responsibility from individuals and families and weakened formal andinformal control as well as self-restraint. In the parliamentary debate on the newlegislation, it was explicitly described as part of the new penal policy by membersof the ruling coalition.Then there is a third point, which is that now, and this is badly needed, as ageneral rule, a fine is issued to those found in possession of hash or ecstasy or thelike, no matter whether it is half a gram or two grams, and no matter whether it is forpersonal consumption or not. The law is the law, and the law should be respected.This is the way to build any proper society. It really has been utterly grotesque thatfor many years the legislation has clearly said that it is a criminal offence to smokehash, and yet those who use drugs have been told: yes, yes, you are not allowedto do it. And next time they do it: yes, yes, you are not allowed to do it. This isreally the same kind of laxness we have had toward juvenile delinquents for manyyears with charges dropped time after time. (The Office of the Folketing Hansard,2003–2004, p. 7651).In 2007, the construction of drug users as rational and self-responsible actorswas underscored when fines for possession of illegal drugs were raised. In 2004, theminimum fine was set at EUR 67 (for possession of up to 10 gr. cannabis) whichwas raised to EUR 269 in 2007. The Minister of Justice claimed that 18, 989 7 casesfor violating the Law on Euphoriant Substances in 2005 showed that a significantnumber of young people were still using illegal drugs. The Minister therefore wantedto increase fines to improve the deterrent effect.Illegal possession of euphoria-inducing drugs must be considered a criminaloffence that should have clear and noticeable consequences, even if the drug isonly for personal consumption. This, in the opinion of the Ministry, is not reflectedsufficiently in the existing level of fines. The punishment metered out shouldtherefore clarify that possession of illegal drugs for personal consumption is notacceptable. A more noticeable sanction will also hopefully contribute toward keepingparticularly young people from using illegal drugs. (Justice Department, 2007, p. 15f)FALL 2010795
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