Drug policy, control and welfare

Abstract

The aim of this article is to understand the recent changes of Danish drug policy, which have changed both the balance between and the content of control and welfare. For this purpose, Danish drug policy is seen as a ‘policy space’ where different political rationalities are articulated and played out against each other. The political rationalities articulated within the realm of drug policy are furthermore seen to be influenced by the political rationalities that dominate penal policy and welfare policy more generally. To account for the policy space of Danish drug policy today the article builds on analyses of legislation, policy documents and research related to the policy process. The article is furthermore built on secondary literature about Danish drug policy. The article finds that Danish drug policy articulates a particular mix of neo-conservative and neo-liberal political rationalities that constitutes the basis for the balance between control and welfare in Danish drug policy today.

Notes

Notes

1. Until the 1940s drug abuse in Denmark was individual cases of persons who got addicted as part of medical treatment. The primary means of treatment was psychiatric. During the 1940s, the first ‘drug epidemic’ erupted in Denmark among a group of people in the vice districts of Copenhagen. The people were seen as and reacted to as morally corrupt and/or suffering from psychopathologies (Jepsen, 2008; Nimb, 1961, 1972).

2. From 1996 to 1997, there was a 47% increase in outpatient treatment and a 144% increase in residential treatment, and 75% of residential treatment was in enterprise system (Laursen & Storgaard, 2001, p. 286).