Comparison between the Netherlands and Sweden criminal justice drug policies

Netherlands

            The Dutch authorities goes on with a strong concern that availability of drugs is the inevitable result of the western society (Chatwin, 2016). This has led to formation of policies that that limits the demand, detrimental effects of drug use and the supply. The main aim of the policies Netherlands is to reduce the risk that result from the drug use to the user, the immediate surrounding and the society (Chatwin, 2016). The policies are formed with the idea that disadvantageous effects of drug does not come from the pharmacologic effects alone but it results also from the personality of the individual and the conditions within which the drug is used. Strong distinctions have been made to differentiate the hard and soft drug based on belief that the hard drugs puts the user in unacceptable risk than the soft drug.

Sweden

            Drug is believed to be a significant social problem which is very serious and for this reason that it hold a strong and uncompromised attitude towards drugs. The mail goal for the drug policy was to eliminate all drugs from the society. This attitude is based on the claim that drugs are not part of the Swedish culture which thus makes them unacceptable (Chatwin, 2016). The goal for making the country drug free was to limit access to drugs, reducing number of recruitments to abuse and all enable the drug abusers stop. In this country, there is no distinction between a soft and hard drugs and any non-medical use is considered as drug abuse

Recommendations

             I would recommend use of both the Dutch approach and the Sweden approach due to the fact that in the society, drugs are inevitable and there will always be use of drugs due to various conditions that may occur to an individual. The soft drugs should be highly regulated with increased prices to reduce the number of individuals who can afford the drugs. This will minimize the number of addictive cases on the other hand drugs  that are likely to cause significant negative effect to the user and to the society in general should be made illegal to avoid the consequences that comes from it such as the issue of drug dependence and massive lifestyle changes that can affect the individual negatively.

Decriminalization view

            Decriminalization of the drug does not really cause much better effect because you still have to deal with the addiction itself. It is actually surprising that allowing the use of the drugs has been proved more successful that the illegalization of the drug. I believe that decriminalization might be a good intervention but it might not apply in all areas due to the cultural differences that exist in different regions (Walmsley, 2019). There might also be a risk of rise in the cases of drug abuse and uses which might have a negative impact to the society.

I agree with Mathew Veltri’s post

 

 

References

Chatwin, C. (2016). Mixed messages from Europe on drug policy reform: The cases of Sweden and the Netherlands. Journal of Drug Policy Analysis, 11(1).

Walmsley, I. (2019). Drugs decriminalization: The art of governing drug using populations.