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

HOUBORGand other educational institutions (Manniche & Høgh, 1967, 1968; Manniche & Wolf,1969; Ulff-Møller, 1969; Kontaktudvalget, 1970; Ulff-Møller, 1971; Manniche,Holstein, & Boolsen, 1972a; 1972b). The majority of this research was based onsociological theories of social deviance, specifically theories on social learning(Becker, 1953; Ulff-Møller & Jørgensen, 1971) and theories on the disseminationof innovations in a population (Holstein, 1972). These surveys focused on how druguse became a meaningful social activity for young people and the social contextin which this occurred, not simply the immediate social context, but also the moregeneral social and cultural contexts. The research therefore focused on trends inthe number of young people who came into contact with illegal drugs, how manyprogressed from experimenting with illegal drugs to regular use, the social contextfor contact with and use of drugs, and last but not least, attitudes toward illegal drugsamong users and non-users. A national survey in 1968 showed that one fifth of therespondents had been offered drugs and one in ten had tried drugs, but only one ina hundred was a regular user (Ulff-Møller, 1969; Ulff-Møller & Jørgensen, 1972).When the survey was repeated in 1970, four out of ten had been offered cannabisand one fourth had tried or was using cannabis. The number of regular users hadtherefore risen from 1% in 1968 to 4% in 1970 (Ulff-Møller, 1971; Ulff-Møller &Jørgensen, 1972). The surveys showed that drugs were being distributed throughnormal social relations and not through subcultures, and that drug use was becomingan increasingly acceptable social activity among young people. In 1968, 56% ofthe respondents in the school surveys supported prohibition of cannabis, whereasin 1970 the figure was only 36% (Ulff-Møller & Jørgensen, 1972). Research aswell as the image constructed by the media therefore revealed that more and moreyoung people were coming into contact with illegal drugs, that the drugs were partof their normal social environment and that drug use was becoming an increasinglyacceptable social activity.Generally, one can conclude that the phenomenon development ofdrug use after the first offer [of drugs] seems to function and couldbe classified as an ordinary, normal social phenomenon and notas a socially deviant phenomenon, …. (Ulff-Møller & Jørgensen,1972, p. 88)The use of illegal drugs was no longer associated with a particular deviant andmarginalized subculture. It was becoming a normal social phenomenon among youngpeople in Denmark. Drug use had become a youth phenomenon and was associatedwith a dissemination of elements of the new youth culture from a small group inCopenhagen to the rest of the population. In the public debate and discussions amongexperts and politicians, though less in terms of research, the social conditions forthe spread of drug use were also seen as a symptom of more general changes in788 JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES