Civil society and drug user activists push harm reduction reforms across the Nordic region – please watch the videos from a side event at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and learn more about drug policy reform in Scandinavia! <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Nordic nations such as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark are widely admired for their strong democratic institutions, universal welfare systems, commitment to human rights, and high levels of gender equality. Yet when it comes to drugs, these same societies have historically embraced policies centered on criminalisation, strict law enforcement, and the goal of a \u201cdrug-free society.\u201d Possession and use are often punished, and social stigma toward people who use drugs can be strong\u2014even within otherwise inclusive welfare states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Svala Johannesdottir, a harm reduction professional from Iceland, described this contradiction with the term \u201cthe Nordic paradox\u201d in her speech at a side event of the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). The side event, entitled Nordic Mobilization on Human Rights and Drug Policy<\/em>, was organized by John Melhus from the the Association for Humane Drug Policies Norway with the support of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD), the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), and the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Drugreporter team filmed the session\u2014watch the video playlist below to learn more about recent developments in each of the Nordic countries (you can switch between the videos using the arrows at the bottom left, or select a specific video from the list in the top right corner<\/em>):
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