Är skadereduktion en norm inom den svenska narkotikapolitiken?: Debatten om cannabisens legala status

Abstract

The most recent Swedish Drug Commission of Inquiry, grounded in the right to life and the right to health as well as the three international drug conventions, proposed a change in the national objective of drug policy from “a drug-free society” to “a society with reduced harm from drugs”. Harm reduction, closely linked to human rights, shifts focus from criminalization, or the idea of a world without drugs, to primarily trying to reduce the risk of health-related, economic and social harms. This without necessarily demanding individuals to be drug free. In the last decade the debate regarding the decriminalization of cannabis has increasingly been driven by arguments with a focus on harm reduction. By analyzing the Swedish debate on decriminalization of cannabis using content analysis the thesis aims to examine if harm reduction is an established norm within Swedish drug policy. Zinberg’s (1984) theory on drug, set and setting combined with the guidelines on harm reduction related to cannabis put forward by Fisher et.al. (2022) examines references made to harm reduction within the debate. Through the lens of Finnemore and Sikkink’s (1998) theory on the norm life cycle the status of the norm is established. The results suggests that actors representing the pro-decriminalization side of the debate are making arguments with reference to harm reduction. Even so, there is no evidence to suggest that harm reduction is an established norm within Swedish drug policy. It is more likely an emerging norm that might be on the rise and could be seen as a contestant to the current zero tolerance drug policy, which is still considered to be the internalized norm.