Houborg Esben, Søgaard Thomas Friis, Mogensen Sif Anna Ingibergdottir
Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Artillerivej 90, 2. floor, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Artillerivej 90, 2. floor, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Int J Drug Policy. 2020 Jun;80:102660. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102660. Epub 2020 Jan 21.
In 2004 the Danish parliament repenalised possession of illicit drugs for personal use after it had been depenalised for 35 years. This article analyses the introduction of a more repressive drug policy in Denmark by studying how drug use and drug users were problematized in two key government whitepapers and how this problematization articulated a more general problematisation of 'a culture of intoxication' among young Danes. The analysis also shows how the policy change involved a change of governmentality away from a welfarist and towards a neo-liberal governmentality. The analysis particularly focuses on the implications of these problematisations for the constitution of young drug users a 'governable subjects'.
The article takes its inspiration from research that has applied governmentality theory to analyse drug policy and particularly how the governmentalities that drug policies articulate involve different subjectifications of drug users. Within this overall framework the article also takes inspiration from Carol Bacchi's post-structural approach to policy analysis to show the assumptions about young people, drugs and how to govern them before and after the policy change.
The new drug policy articulated new ways of problematising drug use and the young drug user. Drug use was no longer defined as more or less socially conditioned but as an individual choice made by a rational actor. Punishment for violating the drug legislation should make the drug user responsible for his or her transgressions and deter others from making similar transgressions.
Research has shown that neo-liberal discourses can lead to more empowering and harm reduction oriented drug policies. This is not the case in Denmark. Here neo-liberal discourses led to a more repressive drug policy. Briefly accounting for some of the lived effects of the new drug policy, the article shows how socially disadvantaged parts of the Danish population bears the burden on the more punitive drug policy. This more repressive drug policy goes against the trend in several other European countries that have become less repressive. However, even if Danish drug policy has become more repressive, the legal measures taken against drug users in Denmark are still fairly 'mild' compared with the legal measures taken against drug users in other countries.
在丹麦议会将个人持有非法药物非刑罪化35年后，2004年又重新将其定为刑事犯罪。本文通过研究两份关键政府白皮书如何将吸毒及吸毒者问题化，以及这种问题化如何阐述丹麦年轻人中“醉酒文化”这一更普遍的问题化，来分析丹麦更严厉毒品政策的引入。分析还表明，政策变化涉及治理方式从福利主义向新自由主义治理的转变。分析特别关注这些问题化对将年轻吸毒者构建为“可治理主体”的影响。
本文的灵感来自于将治理理论应用于分析毒品政策的研究，特别是毒品政策所阐述的治理方式如何涉及吸毒者的不同主体化。在这个总体框架内，本文还从卡罗尔·巴奇的后结构主义政策分析方法中汲取灵感，以展示政策变化前后对年轻人、毒品以及如何治理他们的假设。
新的毒品政策阐明了将吸毒和年轻吸毒者问题化的新方式。吸毒不再被定义为或多或少受社会条件制约，而是被定义为理性行为者做出的个人选择。违反毒品立法的惩罚应使吸毒者对其违法行为负责，并威慑他人不要做出类似违法行为。
研究表明，新自由主义话语可以导致更具赋权性和减少伤害导向的毒品政策。丹麦的情况并非如此。在这里，新自由主义话语导致了更严厉的毒品政策。本文简要说明了新毒品政策的一些实际影响，展示了丹麦社会弱势群体如何承受更严厉毒品政策的负担。这种更严厉的毒品政策与其他几个变得不那么严厉的欧洲国家的趋势背道而驰。然而，即使丹麦的毒品政策变得更加严厉，但与其他国家针对吸毒者采取的法律措施相比，丹麦针对吸毒者采取的法律措施仍然相当“温和”.
