Drugs

Alongside the general trends in criminal policy, it is also clear how the focus has shifted to new types of crimes. There is a long tradition in Sweden of seeing alcohol as the cause of crimes of violence and theft. However, the focus on alcohol in criminal policy shifted from the 1960s to drugs. At the same time, Sweden has portrayed drugs as one of society’s greatest problems and, in international contexts, has claimed that it has a successful policy in this area. One reason for this is the tradition of a strong temperance movement. The demand for total sobriety became a zero-tolerance approach in drug policy, justified by the gateway theory. A clear characteristic of drug policy as a national project also emerges. The term “the Swedish model”, which previously referred to an active labour market policy and generous social insurance, is transferred to drug policy when welfare state politics begins to be questioned.