Danish Drug Policy— An Ambivalent Balance between Repression and Welfare

Abstract

This article maps recent developments in drug policy in Denmark: control, treatment, prevention, and harm reduction. Prevailing issues have been the introduction of a Danish heroin experiment, injection rooms and other harm reduction measures, moral panics around street level phenomena, and a renewed discussion of the relative roles of law enforcement and treatment/harm reduction. The power positions of the actors--police, politicians, administrators, and users' representatives--have shifted over time. A covert conflict between the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health has resulted in an uneasy balance on the political and policy level and confusion about guidelines and practices. There have been oscillations between optimism and pessimism in the law enforcement and treatment sectors. Ritualistic invocations of prohibition, prevention, and treatment coupled with ideological opposition have not been able to stem increasing acceptance of harm reduction--a modified version of the Scandinavian welfare approach.