NORDIC VALUES FOR DRUG POLICY — Uniting for Human Rights, Harm Reduction and Dignity

Whoever you are in the Nordic region, the Nordic values unites us. And if there's someone who needs them, [music] it's us. >> You need to to treat everyone, also people using drugs, with dignity. They are human beings, first of all, with human rights that we shall respect. >> It's a very strong thing that the Nordic countries are coming together and to emphasize this on paradox that's going on. We have the leadership in the world when it comes to [music] universal welfare system, democracy, human rights. And I think [music] we need to step up our game when it comes to drug policy because we are far behind. >> These issues, they go amongst borders. They affect [music] us all, so we really need the international cooperation so that we can actually solve these issues. >> Even though there are of course differences, the Nordic [music] countries are very similar. So we can use each other's data and see, "Okay, what works in these countries? Could we maybe implement what's making good and useful changes?" >> Without hope, we don't have anything. >> We really want to get this going because [music] otherwise no one's going to do anything. We are the voices for the voiceless. Uh it's our job to try to turn the tables. >> [music] >> We are here at the conference on Nordic drug policy and human rights. Can you talk about the concept of this conference? What would you like to achieve with it? >> There are the universal [music] values that we have of human rights, dignity for all humankind, truth, you know, transparency. Those Those are values which stand really, really very strong in the Nordic countries. Whatever we do going forward, those values should be the compass that we're using when we design drug policy as well. So what we did is we invited organizations from the four other countries in the Nordic countries from Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden. And we said, you know, look, let's let's try to make a network where we can mobilize for these values that we actually hold dear. >> If we talk about drugs and people who use these drugs, how can we apply those principles, values to to this phenomena? >> For us in Oslo, it's important to treat everyone with dignity. And I think quite often we have a tendency of thinking that punishment and criminalization and incarceration solves everything, but actually particularly for young people, it always makes the problems bigger. So, again, we need to help people, give them meaningful work, education, health care, stable and secure environments. That's best for them, and that's the best for the society and the cities. >> [music] >> The war on drugs was launched by Richard Nixon in 1971. And as I've heard many of you say, the war has failed. It's a policy consisting of an aggressive and discriminatory campaign to enforce drug prohibition. It has been copied by many governments across the world from the Americas to Asia. And it has failed in its primary but questionable aim, that of eradicating drugs. And it has facilitated countless of human rights violations, affecting some of the poorest and most marginalized people across the world, further entrenching discrimination that already existed. And it also exacerbated the harms of using drugs and intensified the violence associated with illicit markets. >> To answer the question, why have we now got children dealing drugs in the market in in the UK? It's because the police is so good at catching the adults. In the UK, we're really bloody good at policing drugs, but you're also really good at policing drugs in this region cuz your your police are actually more qualified than the UK. And in Sweden, police are great at it, and that is why you have the violence in in reply. It's like if you want to grow a bush in your garden, and you want the bush to thrive and grow, and you want lots of flowers on it, you prune it, and it grows back stronger. You prune it some more, it grows back stronger each year. That is what's happening with drug policy in Sweden and most places where there is a very aggressive prohibitionist policy. You're making a very strong bush. Organized crime is becoming more effective. >> Prohibitionist governance failure doesn't reduce demand, and it just shifts an entire industry into the shadows. So, prohibition essentially creates the conditions that make environmental destruction profitable and also inevitable. And it rewards actors that exploit nature. And the frontier dynamics mean that drug enforcement is actually shifting a lot of these actors into places of fragile ecosystems where there's predominantly weak governance systems, and what you often see is that marginalized communities are at the forefront of the violence, exploitation, and corruption. >> The prohibitionist approach has ultimately resulted in police violence, discrimination, extrajudicial executions, illness, mass incarceration, poverty, and displacement. So, the iron fist is only effective as a rhetorical tool, not as public policy. >> The unstable toxic supply in the drug market, I think, poses Well, it does pose an immediate risk. This is a health emergency that impacts people who use drugs, but it also puts immense pressure on local and national health systems. We have to push for a socially led response with safer supply being the ultimate goal. >> We need to move away from punishing and stigmatizing people. We need to decriminalize the use, the possession, the cultivation, and purchase of all drugs for personal use. We need to expand evidence-based prevention, harms reduction, and treatment programs, as well as addressing the root causes why people turn to drugs or become involved in the drug trade. We need to regain control and reduce violence by moving towards effective regulation of drugs. And we need to put in place measures that tackle social inequalities and promote social justice. >> And we have yet another mayor opening the conference for us in a video message. >> Regulation is not a radical departure from responsibility. It's a pragmatic step towards greater responsibility. It allows us to set standards for safer production, to reduce health risks for users, to limit environmental damage, to provide accurate information, education, and early intervention, and to shift our focus from reacting to harm to preventing it. This is about governance where today there is none. >> You know, we have models for regulating tobacco, we have models for regulating alcohol, which uh are quite quite good. Um I think we could extend those models to use uh for other drugs as well. I hope that that the tiny little thing that is stopping the authorities from understanding that actually regulation is more control, I hope that that goes away after a little while, especially in the Nordic countries, I think it would be a very good place to to start to try out different regulatory [music] models for for for different drugs. >> Norway has seen quite a significant change in drug policy in the past 10 years, let's say. So, can [music] you tell me how drug policies are changing in Norway? And also, [music] what are you particularly proud of to achieve? >> We are drug user representative. We represent people who use drugs because of the prohibition, because of the criminalization, and we have changed got the government to change from heroin injection site to drug consumption room. We have got more medications in opioid substitution treatment, not only buprenorphine and methadone, but also short- and long-acting morphine, and we also have heroin-assisted treatment. It's a trial, and we have substitution treatment trial for other serious addictions. So, we we're in the front, and we have had conservative government suggesting drug a drug policy reform with decriminalization, and we got very good depenalization. The police cannot seize drugs from people with the drug problems anymore with threshold 3 g of heroin, 2 g of amphetamine, I think it's 10 g of cannabis, and so on. They made a step with a broad majority at the parliament, and all the parties said, "We're continuing in the [music] direction of a humane drug policy based on human rights." >> [music] >> Oslo still has some areas where there is more visible drug use like open drug scenes. How does your city address those issues? >> Again, it's about treating people with dignity and we have a very big good cooperation with lots of civil society organizations. User run organizations and one example for example is Huset, the house. It is a great place. It's run by uh uh people that used to use drugs or are currently using drugs and it's a place you can be safe. You will be treated with dignity. You get food, you get uh a place to stay, uh meaningful activities. >> Oslo drug check? [music] >> So, you have drug drug checking services? >> Sure. So, it's a testing machine down in the corner. So, they bring whatever they need to to test here and Daniel will help them. I think >> the machine is ready within 15 minutes. You will have a good answer on whatever it is you have. You [music] put the actual substance within that one, within this square there. You put it in machine and there's a >> [music] >> laser scanning in a spiral as such when within 15 minutes you will [music] have a rather exact answer what it is and what it is not. >> [music] >> Maybe we forgot that criminalizing a behavior doesn't accidentally stigmatize the people that engage in the behavior. It's designed to stigmatize the people [music] that engage in the behavior and maybe we don't want to do that. Certainly, if we look epidemiologically, stigma is disastrous for public health. Maybe we don't want to do that, but maybe there's something inherently wrong with doing that for a behavior like this. >> How do you see the main challenges? What are the main violations of human rights of people who use drugs in Norway where you can still make some progress. >> We made progress on on use of punishments. I think maybe health care is one of the most challenging areas for the time being and and in ahead of us. >> There's still a lot of stigma in relation to to to drug use. Human rights demand that you give services to the person irrespective of drug status. So, I think that that's a big challenge in in delivering services that's adapted to the person. >> The health care is like, you don't belong here. You're not going to get the help that you need. You're not going to get the psychiatric. You're not going to be treated nice. When you come in the door, they smile to everyone but you. The smile is gone and you get treated badly. >> They don't want us in the in the health system. They want us into what they call drug treatment to make us stop using drugs and those with severe drug problems, they use drugs for a good reason and the majority should not stop not at the moment when they're ready and what makes them ready is to have a dignified life. >> We must not forget that actually drug um drugs have saved a lot of people because a lot of people that otherwise maybe taken their own lives, they use drugs instead. >> Heroin has saved our lives several times. >> We would have been dead if we haven't tried heroin. It's the reason we are alive. It's also reason why we were dead a couple of times, but it's the reason why we stand here alive. It's to stop feeling the pain. So, it's self-medication and everyone do it in their own way and everyone find own way to how they it will help them, but to help them stop. You have to help them to understand why why are you running [music] from? Why are you medicating? What do you want to hush? What do you want [music] to feel less? And then somebody can try [music] to give you the help you need so you don't have to feel like you need to push it down there with [music] the with narcotics. >> For a long time Sweden has seen itself as a [music] country with a clear and coherent approach to drugs. Built around the idea of a drug-free society and zero tolerance with strong political backing and broad public support. A system that has been consistent and in many ways resistant to change or even debate. >> So Sweden is a kind of notorious about being a very having a very oppressive [music] approach to drug policy. For a long time it wanted to create a drug-free [music] society. How would you characterize Swedish approach to drug policy? >> It's been difficult difficult in Sweden. >> A lot of stigma. >> Yeah, much stigma. Very much stigma. It's a big change a lot. We have naloxone. We have needle exchange. We have opioid Yeah. But it must be better. We cannot stop there. Important is to decriminalize people. >> If you have a little say 1 g heroin on you, I think it's 1 year prison. >> 1 year prison? >> I think it's more now. >> Yeah, they've increased the penalties for possession. >> Yeah. >> Do you think that the police in Sweden discriminates people based on the color of their skin? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> To get the more and more better statistics they pinpoint target different the same people all the time. >> Yeah. >> And the young children, if you have a wrong hat or something, the police see you and they will have a drug test. Are you still a little dizzy? Drug test. And I think the most dangerous in Sweden is that police catch you. For relatives it's just much still put the close the door lock the bottom don't give them money, don't let them in. But we don't think that is the right way to go. We must include and help and take them in the hands and talk for the the right if they don't can by themself. >> [music] >> It used to be that Swedish drug users moved to Denmark, right? [music] To use the services there. Is it still the case? >> I I think it's still the case. I don't know if it's the it's as prevalent as it was earlier. I think the needle syringe programs have become a little better in in Sweden. Um perhaps also the OIC, but we still have a lot of Swedes in Copenhagen and also actually also in the Danish prison system. The Swedes I talked to they they tell me that they go to Copenhagen because there's a drug consumption rooms. You can get into the shelter even though you are personally use drugs. You know, you get a place to sleep. You can access needle syringe programs without registering with your social security number and I just think it's a nice example of people who use drugs want to do it in a safe way. They are willing to move from their country and go to another country in order to access harm reduction. I really think it's it says something about the agency and determination of people who use drugs and they are not that different from everyone else. They want a a good health and they want to survive. >> The image of a drug user is somebody who is heavily addicted to heroin, I would say, you know, but that is not the typical drug user. The typical drug user looks just like you and me, you know, and I think we should talk more about that, you know, the real the drug user is actually so normal. >> How would you characterize uh drug policy in your country? What has been changing in the past, let's say, 10 years? >> The legal scope of the drugs policy in Denmark is a combination of harm reduction and criminalization. We had a uh new law turned into force in 2024 where the prosecution must be discontinued if you have drugs for your own use um and you are dependent on drugs in your everyday life. So, this is very good and you shouldn't be fined. And in um addition to that, if you are near a uh certified drug consumption room, you should also not have your drugs confiscated. Even though it's not being enforced correctly all over Denmark, we do see the the good that this change has brought. >> In many countries, Iceland has this image that there is the Iceland prevention model and >> [laughter] >> uh it's kind of uh works very well and there's very few people using drugs and you don't need a harm reduction. So, how would you challenge that image? >> The prevention model works for some people, but there are a lot of us, a lot of us that it doesn't. We need harm reduction, we need more detox facilities, we need more help. We also just need more on-site help because at least where I'm from in Akureyri, northeast Iceland, there isn't anything. >> We started the Matildurs organization in 2022 and we felt there was a critical need of harm reduction services for people who were not injecting because the whole focus on harm reduction in Iceland has been on people who were injecting and people who are would fall into the category of chaos drug use, homelessness, severe mental health problems. And we knew also that there was a massive spike in people smoking Oxycontin, severe opioid challenges, and in crack cocaine smoke smoking. So, we established this specialized service for people who smoke opioids and stimulants. >> I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Matildur, it wasn't for Reykur, it wasn't for all these harm reduction programs. I got a lot more help from them. They would call me a lot, like if I didn't call them, they just called me, checked in, made sure I was doing okay, planted little seeds of, you know, recovery, what that meant for me and what I wanted to do. >> [snorts] >> And so, I went down that road. They helped me get into that detox facility and I got clean and I've been sober since. Now, I am a peer supporter. I am helping others around me. >> We have a phone line every weekday from 12:00 to 5:00, so people all over the country can call us. We do counseling, we assist people to treatment, and we also send packages all over Iceland with clean supplies for smoking. We also send Naloxone and a testing strip, but we do lack a lot of things in the outside the capital area. >> What would you say what are the main challenges right now in Iceland? >> Funding. The main challenging is [music] to get the government and the municipality to understand that we need harm reduction service for the whole spectrum. Not only people who are dealing with the most severe problem. >> How would you characterize the drug situation in [music] in Finland? >> Recently, we have become the one of the highest countries in the Europe European Union with >> [music] >> drug related deaths on youth like overdose deaths. So, the situation is severe, I would say. >> Why do you think that there are those negative trends? What causes them? >> Among the young people who died of overdose in Finland, 50 50% of them had a mental health disorder. And at the same time, we have systemic level issues. If people use drugs, they can be denied mental health care and seen that they first have to quit using drugs or be cured of a substance abuse problem before receiving proper mental health care, even though from research, we can see that they are highly correlated and that we can treat people who have substance abuse problems and have mental health problems at the same time. >> There are some things that we lack for instance in the harm reduction field like drug consumption rooms or drug checking services that some other Western European countries do have. >> There's also criminalization of of use and possession. So, it's kind of like support and punish. >> I'm a chair of the Finnish Cannabis Association and I'm a medical patient myself. And there is an ongoing crisis regarding medical cannabis in Finland. It has been legal since 2006 and we have now hundreds of medical cannabis patients in Finland. The medicine has been taken away from them. And many of these people are now resorting to criminal markets and sick people are made into criminals, which is wrong and it's evil. And I'm I'm personally implicated that in in that, so this is what keeps me going. >> Can you describe those citizens initiatives? What were they about? >> About the citizen initiative on drug consumption rooms, uh it's kind of uh paradoxical that it was in the first place in 2018 proposed by the city of Helsinki with the majority of uh the city council. And uh then the parliament says clearly no, which tells about the kind of uh differences between urban uh politicians and uh politicians from countryside. They are more conservative. >> As far as I know, Finland also experimented with alcohol prohibition, which is quite unique in Europe. How did it go? >> Alcohol prohibition didn't mean that there was no alcohol in Finland, so in a way that lesson still should be learned that just prohibiting something doesn't make it go away. It makes it more dangerous. >> The problems that we have with drug policy now are identical to the problems that we had with alcohol prohibition. That would be a good good example of how to to sort these things out. But, for some reason we do not want to learn from that example. >> And I also feel when we look to Sweden and we say that we don't want to repeat the mistakes they've made or we don't we don't want to go that way. We don't want to have such like youth criminal gangs and whatever. Still, we're kind of not seeing [music] that it's the repressive system that's kind of fostering this kind of development. And we are actually repeating those mistakes. >> [music] >> Please never underestimate um the change and the positive transformation that can be created by many people working together, strategizing together, and lifting each other up. Um you know, we must still believe that a better world is possible. >> I want to speak directly to those working to build the Nordic network of people who use drugs. You are not starting from zero. You are part of the global movement with decades of struggle, knowledge, and solidarity behind you. My wishes for you are very, very simple. Stay independent. Stay rooted in community. Be unapologetically political. Do not wait to be invited into systems. Shape them. >> We believe that we still [music] can make a change and we can help others to make a change for the better. >> Change is something [music] that comes from inside you. You you burn for you. You have a drive inside that you know that something [music] is unjust. Injustice inside you, then you know you have to fight against That's exactly what Yiannis said. That is totally true. Without hope, we [music] don't have anything. >> [music]