Until recently, Norway has remained staunchly immovable on its conservative drug law, but that looks set to change in a recent, sudden and surprising turn of events. Are we about to see a softening on the Scandinavian stage that could engender further worldwide reforms? UK-based author Max Daly thinks that could be the case. Norwegians were left choking on their muesli on the morning of 5 October 2016 when they read an article in tabloid newspaper Dagbladet by the government’s Conservative Party Health Minister Bent Høie. He confessed to a complete change of heart on drug policy: Norway should ditch its overly punitive regime to something akin to Portuguese decriminalisation. It was a thunderbolt out of the blue because, until then, Høie and Norway’s right-wing coalition government had shown little sign of veering off-piste from the uncompromising approach typical of Nordic drug law. In the article, headlined ‘Help, don’t punish drug users’, Høie admitted the 48m kroner (NZ$8.5m) in drug possession fines paid out by Norwegians in the previous five years were “detrimental and meaningless” and had done more harm than good to both people who use drugs and society. Inspired by the experiences of Portugal, Høie declared that drug use should be a matter for health services, not the justice sector. Høie’s U-turn set in motion a vehicle of change that could – even though the D word has generally been avoided by the government – end with Norway becoming one more among a select group of countries having decriminalised. Before the Dagbladet article, only the Greens and the Liberal Party endorsed a policy based around decriminalisation. By the eve of last year’s elections, eager to jump on the drug reform bandwagon, seven out of the nine main parties backed Høie’s intent. Last December, the Norwegian Parliament’s Health Committee voted to prepare reform to ensure that “the responsibility of society’s reaction to the use and possession of illegal drugs is transferred from the justice sector to the health sector”. The committee appointed a working group with a mandate to examine how best to shift drug use from a criminal to a health matter and, specifically, to evaluate whether the Portuguese model is appropriate for Norway. Headed by one of the country’s chief prosecutors and consisting of people from drug user NGOs and the fields of health and justice from across Norway, the working group is due to report back in December 2019. Legalisation is not on the table. The move towards decriminalisation is a big deal for Norway, but as the world watches, it could also prove a very modern lesson in how drug reform actually happens and perhaps instrumental in inspiring other countries to ditch their old drug war rags and follow the same route.

Association for Safer Drug Policies (ASDP) Director Ina Roll Spinnangr.

Europe’s northernmost country, Norway is best known for its seafaring history, dramatic mountains and fjords and for constantly getting ‘nul points’ in the Eurovision song contest. Drug use rates are low according to government statistics, but snapshot research among clubbers and wastewater analysis in the cosmopolitan capital Oslo has found higher than expected levels of MDMA, amphetamine and methamphetamine use. Norway is a progressive, flagship democracy and one of the richest countries on the planet. It has one of the world’s highest standards of living for its five million citizens, strong egalitarian and humanitarian ideals and a top-notch welfare and health system – which makes it all the more surprising that it has one of the most repressive drug policy systems and highest drug death rates in Europe. It is this anomaly, experts think, that has led to Norway’s volte-face on drug policy. Norway is one of only a handful of countries where drug use per se, rather than just possession, is a crime. This means Police can stop and search people or their homes if there is the merest suspicion of drug use. Suspects who appear intoxicated can be detained and forced to urinate under observation for traces of drugs. Failing a drug test can lead to a fine of up to NZ$1,700, withdrawal of a driving licence and, for parents, the involvement of childcare services. The use of drug sniffer dogs in schools and urine ‘contracts’ for teenagers caught smoking cannabis have also caused controversy. Most contentious though is the way the country’s 12,000 injecting drug users have been treated. Even though there are provisions in place for substitute prescribing, safer injection facilities and a naloxone distribution strategy, drug users are still dying at an alarming rate. Norway has the third-highest per capita drug death rate in Europe after Sweden and Estonia, with around 250 people dying each year. Campaigners say this is because the country’s most vulnerable drug users exist largely outside the much-praised health and welfare system. They say the most visible drug users are being arrested and fined as an easy way for Police to boost ‘solved crime’ rates. “We have a great welfare and health system, but drug users aren’t wanted in that system,” says Arild Knutsen, Head of the Norwegian Association for Humane Drug Policies, one of the most tireless and respected drug user rights campaigners in Norway. “You can come to a hospital when needed – if you’re not a drug addict. You can get help with your mental health – if you’re not a drug addict.” It is these policies and their stigmatising effects that ultimately created such a determined and successful campaign for reform in Norway. The question is, how did a group of NGOs achieve this in a country that was on very few people’s lists to become Portugal 2.0? “There was a moment of real opportunity that came about from an alignment of factors – Norway’s high drug death rate, the move by UN agencies in favour of reform and a growing evidence base from countries that have already decriminalised – that was ‘brilliantly grasped’ by NGOs,” says Steve Rolles, Head of Policy at Transform. Most observers agree that Norway’s drug NGOs have gained a lot of respect among the public and politicians for helping marginalised drug users and have therefore become an important voice in the debate. Knutsen, for example, is no public pariah for sticking up for heroin users. He was named citizen of the year by readers of the largest newspaper in Oslo and won Amnesty Norway’s annual prize in 2014. But Rolles says one organisation played a central role in persuading the government and general public to rethink the drugs issue.

The move towards decriminalisation is a big deal for Norway, but as the world watches, it could also prove a very modern lesson in how drug reform actually happens ...

“It was perhaps a case of cometh the hour, cometh the NGO,” says Rolles about the Association for Safer Drug Policies (ASDP). Formed in early 2016, they managed to convert Høie in record time. “They are talented, professional and passionate. They’ve synthesised policy and advocacy lessons from across the world and created a highly effective campaign that’s delivered the goods in less than two years. “I guess it helps that Norway is a small country so it’s perhaps easier to make a splash but, nonetheless, a lot of the international reform groups they’ve claimed to have learned from could probably learn a lot more from them.” Ina Roll Spinnangr, the 35-year-old ASDP Director, pointed out earlier this year that “while there were already a few active user associations, some academics and older organisations with roots in the temperance movement who dominated the debate, there was a need for a new association that could embrace more voices from all walks of life”. Spinnangr worked in communication and marketing for various companies before becoming involved in politics because she wanted to improve the mental health and child care systems. She helped set up ASDP after becoming disillusioned with how “policies that where supposed protect the vulnerable from harm actually increases their problems and harm from drugs”. I asked her how she managed to turn the ASDP into such a major influencer. “In the last couple of years, our organisation and a few other prominent voices have made drug policy reform a much talked-about issue in the media,” she says. It’s worth noting that Norway is a country with a very high newspaper readership. “We have changed the perception of the issue from fringe to mainstream. At the same time, we believe we’ve succeeded in reframing the debate from being a question of liberty to one of harm prevention.” One of her main messages was that the system was essentially using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. “We wanted to bring to the public’s attention the fact that not all people are vulnerable to becoming dependent; that while current policy may dissuade less-vulnerable individuals from using, it is actually doing more harm than good to the vulnerable minority. In a country that has one of Europe’s highest rates of drug overdose deaths, this is a strong message.” What is unique is how quickly she managed to persuade Høie. How was this done?

There was a moment of real opportunity that came about from an alignment of factors. Steve Rolles

“As for the Health Minister, he seems to have had a personal revelation at some point. To what extent we have directly influenced him is unclear, but he is now using the exact same arguments for decriminalisation we would use against him when he opposed it. Progress would have been much slower without the Health Minister’s change of heart.” In Norway, the reaction from the media has been very positive to the rerouting of drug reform. Several of the biggest national newspapers have taken a strong standpoint in favour, with some advocating legalisation. Yet, however confident people are that the government will turn drug policy around, there are still concerns the proposals may get watered down because not everyone is sold on the idea of decriminalisation. The biggest opponents are the Narcotics Police Association and the Christian Conservative Party, as well as some NGOs based within the temperance movement. It is the Police, however, that represent the biggest obstacle to a Portuguese style decriminalisation. Bård Dyrdal, a senior detective in Oslo, formed the Scandinavian branch of LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership), a global network of law enforcement figures opposing the War on Drugs, and says the current strategy is not working. “We chase people around the city taking their drugs, and they get more drugs. It’s no solution.” But he has met with a wall of opposition from his colleagues and set up LEAP Scandinavia last year in full knowledge it would mean he would never be promoted again. So far, he has gathered 20 officers to be part of LEAP, but only he and one other have been willing to reveal their identities. “The national Chief of Police has been very clear in saying he is against decriminalisation, and those who disagree have to stay quiet. It is not surprising the Police are against reform because Police do not like those who take their powers away,” he says. “The drug laws are a powerful tool and open up all kinds of possibilities for us. If we want to check you for something, suspicion of drugs is a way to search you and your home. If we go into a house and there is cannabis on the table, we can arrest everyone who is there on suspicion of using it.” One of the key outcomes for many reformers will be the knock-on effect decriminalisation will have on the way authorities, institutions and the public view drug users. Alleviating taboos is a major part of this for Dyrdal too. “I think decriminalisation is a start, not an end point. The most important thing is that it will change people’s mindset. If you take away punishment, you reduce stigma.”

We chase people around the city taking their drugs, and they get more drugs. It’s no solution. Bård Dyrdal