Norway becomes first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs in historic vote

[Jabberwocky]

Norway is to become the first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs as it focuses on treatment rather than punishment.

The majority of the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, backed the historic shift which was supported by the Conservatives (Hoyre), Liberals (Venstre), the Labor Party (Ap) and the Socialist Left (SV).

They directed the national government to reform its policies on drugs.

Sveinung Stensland, deputy chairman of the Storting Health Committee, told Norwegian publication VG: ?It is important to emphasise that we do not legalise cannabis and other drugs, but we decriminalise.

"The change will take some time, but that means a changed vision: those who have a substance abuse problem should be treated as ill, and not as criminals with classical sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.?

Nicolas Wilkinson, the SV party?s health spokesman, told VG that parliament?s goal was to ?stop punishing people who struggle, but instead give them help and treatment?. He added the aim is to transfer responsibility for drug policy from the justice system to the health system.

The move follows the drug programme with judicial control (ND) scheme to replace custodial sentences with treatment programmes for drug addicts in the cities of Bergen and Oslo.

Launched in 2006 the scheme, billed as an ?alternative to detention in prison?, was rolled out to all Norwegian courts last year.

Justice Minister Anders Anundsen previously said: ?The goal is that more addicts will rid themselves of their drug dependency and fewer will return to crime.

?But if the terms of the programme are violated, the convicts must serve an ordinary prison term.?

Norway?s Country Drug Report released this year shows in 2014, the latest figures available, 266 people died from drug-related deaths. The figures, released by the Cause of Death Register, showed an increase from the year before, with opioids the most commonly involved drug.

The Norwegian Health Committee is planning a trip to Portugal in February, which decriminalised personal possession of drugs in 2001. The country made the move following a heroin epidemic and the highest drug-related Aids deaths in the European Union (EU).

It now has the second lowest drug-related deaths in the EU.

Norway could join other countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and certain US states including California and Colorado, which have liberalised drug laws.


Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/h...tional-cocaine-heroin-marijuana-a8111761.html

 

[CFC]

Well done to them!

I think lots of countries have been watching Portugal's (in particular) successes; whether they accept that a change like that would be a good thing is another question entirely though.

 

[Tubbs]

Sadly I don't see this in the US for many years, pot is a step forward though.

Good on Norway.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Trump basically, openly said that he intends to focus on enforcement. He's paid lip service to us, but yes, we're fucked with this guy.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yesssss! Go Norway!

 

[Pickledlemons]

Fantastic news! Hopefully the trend will continue.

 

[S.J.B.]

I still have not seen any details of what this policy actually consists of. This and previous stories make it sound like offenders will still be forced into treatment, which can hardly be considered decriminalization. However, the details are sparse and I could have the wrong impression. Anyone read Norwegian?

 

[Wiserthanearlier]

Wow, great news

 

[MushroomRyder25]

I still have not seen any details of what this policy actually consists of. This and previous stories make it sound like offenders will still be forced into treatment, which can hardly be considered decriminalization. However, the details are sparse and I could have the wrong impression. Anyone read Norwegian?

Can't help you here but that's my understanding as well.

 

[LopLover]

MaintenanceDrugs

Eventually, most of the civilized, decent nations of the world will follow suit. It does sound a bit like coerced treatment is going to be the norm, if so, that's not a huge victory, as using illegal drugs is still going to be viewed as "bad." However, Norway, like most of Europe, Australia and Canada, prefer to treat opioid addicts with maintenance programs. Methadone is still the most common, but buprenorphine is gaining popularity and some places, like Switzerland, have actual heroin maintenance programs where users are allowed to come to the program twice a day and get a heroin injection. BTW, Norway's prisons are actually "correctional" institutions in a way that America's certainly are not. So even those who do wind up in prison in Scandinavian countries receive drug treatment if they want to, and are treated very humanely, not like the hell-holes that most American prisons are.

My understanding of Portugal is that those who wish to continue using drugs are allowed to, as long as they don't commit crimes to get their drugs. When items like methadone, heroin, and morphine are sold at a price related to what they actually cost to make, rather than in the US, where Big Pharma has purchased the souls--and the votes--of enough of our "elected" officials, through election campaign donations, in what are thinly-disguised bribes, for them to charge whatever they want to for new, in-patent medicines. Every time a law is proposed to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals to US customers, the same bought-and-paid-for Senators and Congress-critters kill it at the behest of the hugely profitable drug makers.

The United States of Punishment was "founded" (actually, it was stolen from the people who already lived here) by religious zealots who claimed that they were doing God's work. So even though the nation was technically secular, anything that stinks of "fun" is automatically suspect. That is, of course, unless it has a special interest group supporting it, like sugary processed food, alcohol and tobacco. Oh yeah, don't forget caffeinated drinks either full of high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners, many of which are both neuro-toxins and carcinogens. But "drugs?" Heaven forbid. The reason MAT (medically-assisted treatment, which is the gold standard for opioid addiction) has such a terrible stigma here is that the "treatment community," including people in recovery themselves, who should know better, get brainwashed with the ridiculous concept that, unless they "suffer sufficiently" with cold-turkey withdrawals, then people will be more likely to use again.

As if junkies weren't capable of suffering sufficiently all on their own... The loss of family, friends, material things, careers; the compromises we make with our values and dignity--as an addict in recovery doing long-term Suboxone maintenance, I can guarantee you that I suffered quite enough--as did anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves between me and another fix. In my 30 or so years of active addiction, I did medical detoxes, cold-turkey detoxes, jail holding cell kicks, kicks living on the streets--if any of those had been sufficient to stop me from picking up again, they would have done so. It doesn't work that way, yet the public, the "abstinence only" recovery vendors, and the government all hold to this "proof" that had absolutely no evidence behind it whatsoever.

America's real excuse for why it hates MAT is two-fold. One is that there is a large cadre of people with a financial interest in keeping treatment ineffective. If a modality only has about a 25% success rate, as 28-day spin-dry vendors have, then the average person will go through their doors at least four times before they get clean and sober or before they simply stop bothering to spend an average of $40,000 every month they invest in residential, abstinence rehab. MAT demonstrates something like 80-95% recovery, as long as the person remains on it. So of course the government and the people who get to dispense money for recovery have to undercut it, keep it out of small towns, and put limits both on dosage and time a person is able to remain on the program.

I've had to fight to get my doctor to accept that it is best for me to remain on Sub indefinitely, and I am terminal-ish. That is, my chronic diseases are ones that it's difficult to guess just how long I may live with them, but 5 years is the outside, most likely. And there was still a lot of pressure by the medical community that I taper off Sub. Why? Because that's what we're brainwashed here to believe. You know what the definition of a Puritan is? Someone who is afraid that somebody, somewhere, some time, may find a way to have fun that they can't forbid.