The interview with me published by Nyheter24 yesterday has caused some stir in the Moderate Party. I’m not surprised—that article does not give a fair account of my position on drug legalization. So, I urge everyone to read my own article about the global war on drugs and my reasons for advocating legalization.

I know the topic is controversial, but I firmly believe that it needs to be addressed and debated. Sweden’s drug policy has failed. Compared to the Netherlands—which has Europe’s most relaxed attitude towards soft drugs—Sweden sees twice as many people die from narcotic drugs every year. The key is that the Netherlands has successfully focused on rehabilitation and harm reduction. It is not a crime to take drugs in the Netherlands, which enables people to seek professional help when they begin to develop an addiction. Furthermore, by allowing the “incurable” drug addicts legal access to narcotics, the black market has lost an incentive to recruit new addicts.

I want an open debate about drugs and how best to help people struggling with harmful addiction. It is a taboo subject, but people are dying from narcotic drugs and as a politician with a social conscience, I must ask myself how to make things better for those who suffer. I think a first step would be to stop treat drug addicts as criminals.

The graph (click to enlarge) to the left shows the mortality rate among drug users in the EU. The statistics come from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The table to the right comes from the Swedish National Institute of Public Health and shows in detail the mortality rate among Swedish drug users. Nothing suggests criminalization of addicts and the global war on drugs have done what the legislators predicted it would.

Update: “Incitement” changed to “incentive” in the second paragraph. The former would indicate encouragement to do or feel something unpleasant. I don’t think the illegal drug traders feel unpleasantness when they recruit new addicts. So, the correct noun is “incentive”, which means encouragement as in “reason for doing something”.