Here is the government’s proposal for drug reform – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

– We eliminate criminal liability for the use and storage of small amounts of drugs for our own use. This means that it is prohibited, but it is no longer punishable.

This is what Health Minister Bent Høie (H) said when he presented the government’s proposal for drug reform together with the leader of the Liberal Party and Minister of Education and Integration, Guri Melby.

It is a clear victory for the Liberal Party in government.

– Several decades of punishment regime have taught us that punishment does not work, said Melby.

Additionally, she said punishment can make it difficult for those with substance abuse problems to seek help, and it can make it harder for family members to detect abuse.

– We will no longer stare at people humiliated and humiliated, and called criminals, when in fact they are sick, said Melby.

He also noted that it is well documented in international research that criminalizing drug abuse can be a barrier to drug addicts seeking medical attention.

So many drugs the government will allow without penalty

If the government gets what it wants, it may be in possession of:

• For gram heroin.
• For gram kokain.
• For gram amphetamine.
• 10 grams of cannabis.
• 0.5 deciliters of GHB, GBL, and 1,4-butanediol.
• I lapp / «syreblotter» LSD
• One milligram of LSD as a pure active ingredient.
• 0.5 grams of MDMA.
• 20 grams of mushrooms containing psilocin / psilocybin.
• 15 doses of drug intoxication.
• 500 grams of khat

In the proposal, it should also be possible to be in possession of three types of narcotic drugs at the same time, without risk of sanction, if the quantity is within the limit values.

In addition, the government will introduce another level of farms where the main rule is lack of prosecution, but where an appearance for advice may be required. These values ​​are:

• 15 grams of cannabis
• Fem gram heroin.
• Five grams of cocaine.
• Five grams of amphetamine.
• One deciliter of GHB, GBL, and 1,4-butanediol.
• Three patches / “acid blotters” LSD
• Two milligrams of LSD as a pure active ingredient.
• One gram of MDMA.
• 50 grams of mushrooms containing psilocin / psilocybin.
• 25 doses of drug intoxication.
• I kilo khat.

Any other inclusion of drugs will continue to be punishable and will be sanctioned as at present. The police must also have access to drug seizures regardless of quantity, even when the quantity is below so-called threshold values.

– The police must be able to order that a person arrested with drugs for their own use appear in a municipal counseling unit. This unit will report on harmful effects, offer mapping and monitoring, and not least medical care, Høie said.

If the detainee is a minor, the police must also be able to order the relatives to attend the dialogue meeting. Those who fail to show up can be fined NOK 2,400 if there is no significant burden on the fined person.

KrF in government is against government drug reform

KrF is in the government that presents the drug reform. They will therefore also vote in favor of the reform proposed in the Storting. However, the four KrF ministers, Knut Arild Hareide, Olaug Bollestad, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad and Dag Inge Ulstein, hope and pray that the rest of the Storting will reform.

They fear that their own proposal to the government will make Norwegian drug policy worse than it is today because they want to decriminalize the possession and use of smaller amounts of drugs.

– We hope that the Storting will also continue to work, investigate it thoroughly and think carefully whether it is correct to move from the penal code to the health law, says the Minister of Children and Families, and KrF party leader, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad, VG.

– Do you expect the Storting to further dilute the reform?

– Yes, I hope the Storting will tighten it even more, especially this with young people and new users. You should have strong reactions if you don’t follow up, but you need to get help, you need to be followed, and you need to get treatment. That is the key so that a young person does not do it again, says Ropstad to VG.

Geir Bekkevold (KrF) is the leader of the health and care committee that will resolve the reform through the Storting. He will probably have to loyally back the government’s proposal during the reading, but he is also clear on what he and the party think:

– This is not the KrF drug reform. I want to say it right away, Bekkevold tells NRK.

He says that what worries him about the reform is that it does not take care of children and young people as he sees it.

– We are very concerned about lowering the threshold for children and young people to use drugs. Therefore, we have been very skeptical of this drug reform. We voted against when it was being considered in the Storting in the previous period. We are in favor of health reform for drug addicts, but we are concerned that the threshold will be lowered, says Bekkevold.

However, it says that KrF will act in an orderly manner when the matter is considered at the Storting.

Vedum: – Gang Gift Pack

Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has already said that he believes decriminalization is the wrong path.

– It is a gift package for gangs, Vedum told VG when it emerged that the Drug Reform Committee recommended introducing so-called threshold values ​​for each individual drug.

In practice, this means that you are not punished for having been used with lesser amounts of drugs for your own use.

Vedum believes that the government is pressuring the heaviest drug users in front of it and is opening up to criminal gangs to recruit sellers more easily.

– People who are sick are used as an excuse to be more free. Therefore, I believe that it is possible to make a legal formulation that protects the sick, at the same time that we can be very tough against this, Vedum told VG.

SV will help reform through the Storting

Nicholas Wilkinson, SV’s health policy spokesman, strongly disagrees.

– This is an important day in Norwegian politics. This drug reform will greatly improve the lives of drug addicts in Norway. I will work at the Storting to improve the government’s proposal and pass a reform that goes from punishment to aid, Wilkinson writes in an email.

However, he believes that the proposed reform does not go far enough in following the recommendations of the drug reform committee. This applies, among other things, to drug addicts who can remove drug-related crimes from their criminal records.

“These people need a second chance that we should give them,” Wilkinson wrote.

FRP Deputy Director Sylvi Listhaug has the following to say about the drug reform proposal:

– It is very good that you want to treat drug addicts. It’s a difficult life and we have to do what we can to get people out of it, Listhaug says.

She says it is still important to prevent young people from entering those settings. FRP believes that the government in the drug reform proposal does not put in place a good policy to prevent this.

– We are against decriminalization. Walking into an office to have a conversation or to be fined won’t be enough of a tool to prevent them from entering those settings, Listhaug says.

Ingvild Kjerkol of the Labor Party tells NRK that the party will fully understand the reform proposal, but will not decriminalize drugs in principle.

– The Labor Party believes that it is time to decriminalize drug addicts, not drugs. It will remain punishable, and now we will go into the details of what the government is proposing and see how they recommend doing it, Kjerkhol says.

In addition, he says the party shares some of Frps and KrF’s concerns about youth.

– We see a growing use of drugs among children and young people, for the Labor Party our goal is to prevent children and young people from becoming addicted to drugs and to help those who are there to get out of addiction. So we must stop punishing those who have a substance abuse problem, but we must not lose the preventive effort.