Drug policy at the forefront

Drug prevention. The immediate, almost reflexive, opposition of leading politicians in the wake of the Minister of Health's Jonas Gahr Støre's proposal last week regarding heroin smoking is another terrifying example of drug policy in Norway, with fatal consequences.

Despite recent research and specific experiences with similar schemes in other European countries, which show that heroin overdoses are relatively easy to prevent, it remains a common belief among Norwegians that such harm reduction measures are more about giving up than saving people life.

Politicians, who should be required to take science and facts into account in making such decisions, immediately dismiss the proposal to allow smoking heroin, as a derailment of the debate (KrF) and a distraction from what is important (Right), for to mention something. These are games that are, firstly, completely nuanced and, secondly, lack any kind of durable, professional basis.

Furthermore, it can be debated how damaging it has been and continues to be, that people in positions of power that imply a degree of credibility are constantly given the opportunity to spread what I would characterize as pure lies at worst and misinformation at best.

The politicians hereby confirm that their foremost interest lies in maintaining the majority's image of a totally non-alcoholic society, an image that, by the way, originally derives from politicians with a questionable agenda. One should wait for all the country's heroinists and other drug addicts to feel pressured to quit on their own initiative, and to motivate them to do so by punishing, degrading, moralizing and stigmatizing.

Such an attitude goes far beyond Norway's approach to other challenges in society, where we have often been regarded as a pioneering country by dealing with these in an innovative and science-based way that we know will produce results.

In such cases, we have not surprisingly often achieved very good results.

This emphasizes that there are other factors behind our restraint in this area and that there is a great need for an awareness of our own delusions linked to drug policy.

There are countless studies and various schemes that confirm that harm reduction works, and it is a cruel paradox that Norway, as one of the biggest advocates for human rights, has information that can save hundreds of young Norwegians every year, without using it .

Politicians' fears

We sacrifice, consciously enough, human lives to doubt our image of a kind of utopia and this grotesque truth makes it more difficult for most people to come to terms with our failed policies, as it will at the same time be a recognition that we have failed many who we could have saved, the Utøya tragedy four times, to be more precise.

Politicians probably now fear that such a turnaround operation will threaten to weaken the people's trust in the state.

Another striking delusion among today's politicians, and the ensuing majority of the population, is the perception that advocates of varying degrees of legalization want to signal that drugs are good, or want to make drugs more readily available.

In the media, proponents on either side are often portrayed as stark contradictions, in a debate that is generally black and white and apparently filled with totally different intentions.

It is therefore not surprising that it provokes reactions when a recognized and knowledgeable man such as Jonas Gahr Støre goes over to "the other side."

But in the middle of this "battle", the fact disappears that in the end, both parties are fighting for the same cause. The misunderstandings and strongness that have characterized this debate have contributed to stifling all constructive development, and the situation today is quite locked, which in turn leads to the focus remaining in the wrong place.

For this is not about who is right, it is about doing something we know benefits the weakest people in our society, because if there is something we Norwegians have in common, it is our collective view that all people have a value.

Several politicians have to be insightful and brave enough to see that the arguments that acting on the addicts' terms is giving up are of little value when the result is just that. What should be widely known, and especially among the country's current and future leaders, is that such a proposal as Støre comes up with is far from new. In fact, we lag ridiculously far behind several other European countries, which have already taken responsibility and launched life-saving measures.

The question of saving lives

I grew up in Oslo, but have lived in recent years in the Netherlands, one of the leading countries in this area. As early as the 70s, when heroin really became a societal problem, politicians here saw that how heroin is used largely helps to determine deaths, harmful effects and the culture surrounding drugs. They therefore took early measures to prevent overdose deaths, the spread of infectious diseases and to reduce recruitment to the environment.

They did this by controlling what could be controlled, rather than standing on the sidelines and thinking only about the destructive decisions of these people. The politicians here took an early position on the question of whether it is a waste to save a person who is unable or unwilling to stop using heroin.

Today, there are a small number of drug addicts in the Netherlands who inject, and those who do, do so in a safe environment, so that an unfortunate decision does not have to sentence them to death. For in the midst of all the calls for better aftercare and more low-threshold services, which are certainly important factors in a comprehensive drug policy, many people seem to forget that in order to receive any kind of treatment, one must be alive.

In addition to the foremost and most important method that can be attributed to the Netherlands' success in the field of drugs, namely to distinguish between heavy drugs such as heroin and cocaine and recreational drugs such as cannabis and alcohol, the government's conscious focus is on getting seriously ill drug addicts to switch to smoking heroin. rather than injecting it, the measure that may have saved most human lives.

In addition, this has created a much higher degree of dignity and functionality among users, and in combination with other measures, this has an invaluable effect on both users and the surrounding society. Both injecting rooms and similar rooms where heroin can be smoked have been present for many years already.

The possibilities are endless and if we put away the pride, stubbornness and fear that may be in the way, we make room to exchange experiences and listen to those who have sat with the facit all the way, namely the users. They have the same goal as the rest of us, a goal that they can have a normal, dignified life and be useful, rather than just being a destructive burden for the family and a major expense item for society.

Big differences

I have never seen a single tired drug addict in Amsterdam, where I live. When I researched what this was due to, it turned out that even if they exist, they have a place to be, whether it is in treatment or a place where they get the opportunity to make the best of their situation, because here all people are considered as a full-fledged citizen and a potential resource. Then it is inappropriate to let them die.

Recent figures show that Oslo is the city where most people die from overdoses, per capita, worldwide.

Recent statistics from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction compare the results of the two different approaches to drug addiction in Norway and the Netherlands. In Norway, annual deaths related to drugs are 87 people per 1 million inhabitants, in contrast to the Netherlands where the number is 8. In Norway, the number of injections distributed each year is 2,6 million, in contrast to the Netherlands where the number is 282.700, despite a significantly higher population.

In Norway, every third person per 3 inhabitants has a problematic use of opiates, while in the Netherlands the figure is 1000, ie half. In Norway, the number of injecting drug users is 1,6 per 3,2 inhabitants, in contrast to the Netherlands where the number is 1000.

Now is the time to thank Jonas Gahr Støre for taking responsibility and prioritizing the lives of the population as Minister of Health, in front of a potential and short-term increased popularity of people who do not have the prerequisites to understand the consequences of the attitudes they protect.

This may be the start of us as an enlightened, independent and democratic society being able to stand up for our own and get confirmation that the fight to save lives and the fight against drugs are not two different fights, but one and the same fight where one does not have to to exclude the other.

This can be the start of hundreds of saved lives every year. Thank you Jonas Gahr Støre, for bringing hope to a group that was left behind. ■

(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 08.03.2013. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)