STOCKHOLM, July 13 (Reuters) - A top U.S. policy official attacked tolerant Dutch drugs laws on Monday, blaming them for much higher rates of murder and other crime than in the United States.

``The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States. The per capita crime rates are much higher than the United States,'' General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drugs policy chief, told a press briefing in Stockholm.

McCaffrey said the United States had 8.22 murders per 100,000 people in 1995 compared to 17.58 in The Netherlands. Overall per capita crime rates in the United States totalled 5,278 per 100,000 compared to 7,928 in the Netherlands, he said.

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The Swedes who signed the New York Times drug war proclamation answer Social Minister Margot Wallstrom: "Specify your accusations of drug liberalism".

Social Minister Margot Wallstrom demands in her DN guest editorial 21/6 that the twelve Swedes who signed a proclamation on narcotics policy submitted to the UN Secretary General should "Come fowards and explain mo re cleary what it is they are really after".

The proclamation was signed by 650 people from around the world, among th em were former UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, chairman of international Pen, several current and former presidents, ministers and parliament members as well as Nobel laureates, high court judges and prominent researchers.

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Stockholm -TT- Anyone who criticize todays heavy handed narcotics policy is immediatly branded as a drug liberal.

But there is a difference between advocating a milder narcotics policy and saying it is OK to sell cocaine in supermarkets contends one of the Swedes who recently signed a call for a new narcotics policy.

"Margot Wallstrom [director of the Swedish Social Department] must explain what she means by a 'liberal attitude to drugs' if I am to say wether or not it is applicable in my case."

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Now the government want to criminalize doping. Just as it is illegal to harm your body with narcotics, soon it will also be illegal to pump up with anabolic steroids. The purpose, of course, is well intentioned. The Government says the ban will give a clear signal of how seriously society regards doping. And it certainly is serious, no one denies that, but it is nevertheless not reasonable to pass laws just to send messages and political signals. Laws are too serious to be used in this way. In the first place people must believe in laws and respect them. A law forbidding doping is in practice nearly impossible to enforce, especially if people are taking testosterone or growth hormones or anything else that already exists in the body. And a law that cannot be enforced is not taken seriously with the result that respect for the law is diminished. It is exactly the same with the laws against taking narcotics or buying the services of prostitutes, there is no reasonable possibility of enforcing these laws and they end up as mere moral preaching and wagging fingers.

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Many people have been troubled by the deafening silence that is the hallmark of Swedish narcotics policy. The development of the LVM-system (legally mandated compulsory treatment), the criminalisation of use itsel f and the constant escalation of penalties for narcotics offenses have take n place against a background of nearly total political unity and without th e slightest trace of rational argument and empirical knowledge that would establish wether or not these harsh measures might be effective. Such considerations should be present in the political process, even regarding drugs. But instead the arguments used to justify these actions are dominated by some old preconceived notions that need to be brought into t he light of day and discussed

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The governments of the world must unite against drug liberalism. The UN special session on narcotics is promising. Politicians must never fall for the cynical capitualtion that the legalization movement stands for. Today the Swedish social minister Margot Wallstrom will address the UN about the importance of fighting drugs. Queen Silvia of Sweden is taking part in a panel discussion about children, young people and narcotics during the UN drugs session. It is excellent that Sweden can show such a broad unity on the narcotics issue.

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Governments of the world must stand up against drug liberalism. The UN session on narcotics is promising. Politicians must never fall for the cynical surrender that the legalization movement stand for. Today the Swedish social minister Margot Wallstrom will address the UN about the importance to fight against drugs. Queen Silvia of Sweden is taking part of the panel discussion about children, youth and narcotics during the UN meeting about drugs. It is nice that Sweden can show a broad unity on the narcotics issue.

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Drug abuse in the form we observe it in society today began in earnest during the 1960's. Sweden was actually one of the first countries in Europe to develop an epidemic of intravenous drug abuse. The rest of Europe has since followed suit.

Drug abuse has played a major role in the control policy debate and has had great effect upon criminal statistics and criminal policy. Narcotics are also the most common reason given for intensifying police co-operation in Europe.

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A couple of years ago, Swedish Television showed a film about South Africa. The film was about the love affair between a white man and a coloured woman. The couple knew of course about their country's laws against this type of relationship, and they did everything they could to conceal it. They never went out together, they only met at night, she used the backdoor to his house and was very careful not to keep her possessions in his apartment.

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In 1984 Nils Christie and Kettil Bruun published the book "The Good Enemy". In it they describe how a powerless group of drug addicts were singled out as enemies by a society in need of scapegoats. The war on drugs and drug users was presented as a ritual and collective purification process in which society drove out evil symbolised by drug addicts. Fourteen years later the war continues with unabated enthusiasm, although, judging from available statistics, without any success.

The authors, Christie and Bruun, limit themselves in their description of the drug war to drug users, but they are not the only ones who have been defined as enemies. The other enemies are dissenters in the drug-political debate. They seem to constitute nearly as great a threat to society as the actual drug addicts. Dissenters are regarded as traitors to the well being of the nation, sometimes they are decried as advocates of the devil.

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When the Rave Squad write up their operations they speak of "rave rats" and "nigger kids".

This is something their boss does not want the public to see.

After every shift the Rave Squads groups write their reports, intended for internal use.

But the material is public property and Nojesguiden asked for the reports of one month to get a clearer picture of the Squads work.

As expected, parts of the text had been deleted. The police have the right to do this with material that can effect an ongoing investigation, though even this material becomes public after prosecutions have been made.

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The police super commando against drug abuse by young people has received a new mandate. But do young people have respect for the Rave Squad and are they doing a good job?

The police station in Nacka, Sweden, at the beginning of January 1997: The chief of the Rave Squad Rickard Johansson turns off his mobile phone, hangs it in his belt and sits down behind his desk. He reads aloud from a paper: "998 reports have been made of crimes against the narcotics laws. The Squad has taken 658 urine and blood tests. A total of 1329 persons have been apprehended."

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Swedish drug policy debators should be careful when they brag. A strict narcotics policy does not necessarily lead to less drug abuse, says Leif Lenke - lecturer in criminology.

Mass unemployment and geographical location at least equally important in explaining why some European countries have worse narcotics problems than others. This conclusion has been reached by criminologists Leif Lenke and Borje Olsson. Commisioned by the Council of Europe, they have made a study of the relationship between prevalence of narcotics and narcotics policy in Europe.

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Malmo (TT) The new, extra potent hasch drug 'Skunk Weed' is feared to produce the same type of permanent brain damage as solvents.

The Warning was delivered Tuesday at a narcotics conference in Malmo.

It was Thomas Lundquist, psychologist at a Drug Information Center in Lund, who told about the worriesome conclusions drawn from careful studies of 'Skunk Weed', as reported in the media of southern Sweden.

'Skunk Weed' is an improved cultivar of cannabis. Earlier it was believed that it contained unusual large amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, the substance that produces intoxication from smoking hasch.

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(There is one strange country on our planet. A country whose government likes to exercise control. Since 1993 the legislature has given its police force the right to control its citizens even under the skin, to check if everything is OK with their internal fluids. A country where the government does not only have the right to do so, but is actually doing it. That country is Sweden.)

Sweden has a very special police force, there is nothing quite like it in the rest of the world: The Rave Commission. A group of 18 young motivated police officers whose duty is not to fight crime but a culture - the rave culture - a youth movement that is ever more marginalized. This story is about the only culture police in the western world. An unique phenomena.

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Svea hovratt (Swedish circuit court) is giving green light for dried cubensis, a mushroom that compares with LSD, in a ruling. Overdose may cause life-threatening conditions. The mushroom contains narcotics. Even so the law allows for use and sales.

Kevin, 27, mushroom user escapes indictment for narcotics crimes. He was apprehended during a police raid in December last year for narcotics violation. He had 15 bags of dried cubensis mushrooms, 162 pamphlets with directions and price list together with 850 Skr. ($100).

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Gothenburg. A 24 year old man has been charged as a suspected smuggler of record amounts of khat, an amphetamine-like narcotic substance.

Totally it might be as much as 1,2 metric tons, writes Metro Gothenburg.

Charged with serious merchandise smuggling and major narcotics violations is unusual when it comes to khat.

"One reason is because of the large amount, that we have in this case", says prosecutor Dan Segge.

"I am not familiar with any other case of this magnitude"

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"I am a Victim of passive smoking". That is how Ross Rebagliati defends himself.

This is rejected by the Japanese police who are considering serious actions.

Japanese police will question Ross Rebagliati after he got caught in a drugtest for using marijuana.

If the 26 year old is found guilty of possession he faces a five years prison sentence.

- ---- (original article in Swedish:)

"Jag är ett offer för passiv rökning". Så försvarar sig Ross Rebagliati.

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By Barry James International Herald Tribune Oct 24, 1997

BRUSSELSThe European Court of Justice on Thursday upheld Sweden's state monopoly on the sale of alcohol accepting the argument that it was justified on publichealth grounds but warning that aspects of it were an impediment to free trade within the European Union.

The ruling also has implications in Finland, an EU member, and Norway. All three Nordic countries operate similar monopolies. They use part of their income for antialcohol publicity and treatment.

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COPENHAGEN, Sept 26 (Reuter) Rival Nordic motorcycle gangs may have promised to end a bloody fouryear feud but the public expressed fears on Friday that the bikers would now have more time for organised crime.

Newspapers and politicians in Denmark, Norway and Sweden urged police to keep a close eye on the Hells Angels and Bandidos after gang leaders said they had ordered members to end a war that has killed 10 people.

``That the bikers have now apparently decided to keep the peace means only one thing: Peace with each other,'' the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet wrote in an editorial.

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