|
Newsbrief:
Sweden
Survives
MTV
Festival
11/24/00
As reported by The Week Online
with DRCNet last week (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/160.html#sweden),
Swedish police were in an uproar over the advisability of sending in special
drug squads to help police an MTV pop music awards event at the Globe theater
in suburban Stockholm.
Local police first denied
drug squad requests to assist at the event, but later relented under pressure
from the narcs and prominent Swedish drug warriors. In addition,
Swedish Customs went on special alert, employing drug-sniffing dogs at
the Stockholm airport to counter the feared influx of dope-addled musicians
and fans.
According to a post-concert
report in Aftonbladet, the police squabble turned out to be much ado about
nothing. The Swedish newspaper's log of police activity at the show
tallied one ticket theft, two drunk minors driven home by police, and one
arrest for possibly being high. A more countercultural alternative
to the MTV event held at the Fryhuset club in Stockholm yielded three more
unfortunate drug consumers.
Meanwhile, Aftonbladet reported,
the Swedish Narcotics Commission continues down its hard-line path.
In its latest report, the commission has proposed the use of laxatives
to speed body searches of suspected drug smugglers.
It also urged banning the
sale, purchase, and possession of cannabis seeds, all of which remain legal
under current law.
New Justice Minister Thomas
Bodstrom has not commented on the report. Bodstrom had criticized
Sweden's restrictive approach to drug policy, but has moderated his stand
since assuming office last month.
-- END --
|
Issue #161, 11/24/00
Business As Usual on the Border: More Cops, More Drugs Seized, No Impact on the Street | Follow That Story: Discredited Supersnitch Rises from the Ashes to Testify Again | Follow That Story: Asset Forfeiture Reform a Big Hit at Southern Legislative Conference | Andean Update: Peru's Fujimori and Coca Eradication Gone, Colombia's Peace Talks on Hold as Country Braces for Drug War | US Anti-Drug Aid Endangering Indigenous Communities and Amazon Biodiversity, Experts Charge | Newsbrief: New Polish Drug Bill Ends Experiment, Outlaws Possession for Personal Use | Newsbrief: Sweden Survives MTV Festival | Newsbrief: Clinton Allies Call for Commutation of Drug Kingpin Death Penalty, Moratorium on Federal Executions | Coalition for Jubilee Clemency | Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: Sentencing Project Releases Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers | The Reformer's Calendar | A Thanksgiving Note to Our Readers
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
