On Wednesday, it overflowed with news from the government. They then presented the revised national budget. In the middle of the budget chaos, the Ministry of Justice announced that it has set up a committee to investigate criminal law and criminal procedural issues in the drug field. The committee, which consists of retired prosecutor Hans Petter Jahre, prosecutor Tonje Vang and professor Ørnulf Øyen at UiB, will assess, among other things: Who should be considered a drug addict What amount of drugs should be considered to be for personal use What kinds of coercive measures the police can use in minor drug cases This causes both professionals and user organizations to raise their eyebrows. He thinks it is not possible to separate Head of the user organization Rio, Kenneth Arctander Johansen, says he wishes that he himself or other users could also contribute to the investigation. – I have never seen such central issues, which concern the people we are trying to represent, be investigated and decided upon without us even being asked if we want to contribute, he says to news. Kenneth Arctander in the user organization Rio. Photo: Daniel Christino / Kenneth Arctander Johansen believes that it is not possible to distinguish between drug addicts and non-addicts, as the government wants. – The way it appears to me, it is more a commission than a real desire to investigate a difficult question. Lawyer Frode Sulland believes that the mandate shows that the governing parties have a different view of drug problems than the old drug reform committee had. Lawyer and member of the Danish Bar Association’s law committee, Frode Sulland. Photo: Morten Waagø / news – And that they now want opportunities to ensure, among other things, the police tools that they have complained about that they have lost, he says to news. Sulland is a member of the Danish Bar Association’s law committee for criminal law and criminal procedure. – The committee that has now been set up will investigate the criminal law and criminal procedural aspects of the reform. These questions are a limited part of the work to create a better drug policy. This is what Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Emilie Enger Mehl writes to news. – Sounds almost impossible When the Solberg government presented its proposal for drug reform, it led to a major debate about what kind of coercive measures the police can use in minor drug cases. The Attorney General clarified that the police were not allowed to search people, mobile phones or homes in search of evidence that someone had used drugs, or had them on them. That’s because the offense – having some drug on you or having used it – is not punished severely enough to justify such an intrusive investigation. Some police officers, however, believed that the specification was difficult to deal with. This is also pointed out in the ministry’s press release. The Center Party and KrF decided at their national meetings that the police should be given new legal powers to uncover the use of drugs. Now the new committee will therefore look at what kind of tools the police can use to uncover use. At the same time, they must investigate an arrangement where drug addicts convicted of drug use are not punished for it. – Is it possible to give the police more coercive measures in minor drug cases at the same time as creating a system with sentencing waivers? – It may sound almost impossible. Here you also encounter obstacles of a different nature, also with the international human rights obligations that are linked to such questions. – Here it has been clearly established from the attorney general’s side what is and must be the applicable law in this area, says Sulland. This is what the Attorney General wrote in a circular to Norwegian police districts: In cases where it is discovered that a person has used an illegal drug, the police must not use the person’s mobile phone to uncover the extent of drug use. The police must not force people to test themselves for drugs in the form of blood or urine samples to confirm suspicions of drug use alone. The police must not search a person who is suspected of drug use if the purpose is to uncover an unknown seller of the drug. Such investigations can only take place if the conditions for a third-party investigation are met. The police must not put pressure on anyone to even ask to be searched, if the formal legal basis is not there, as in the cases above. If a suspect nevertheless asks to be searched, notoriety must be ensured (could be proven afterwards). In cases where the duty prosecuting attorney can be contacted by telephone, the police are only exceptionally allowed to decide whether to carry out a search themselves. The prosecuting authority on duty is available around the clock. Read the full statement to the attorney general here I think the central problems are insoluble Sulland is supported by lawyer and professional manager Dagfinn Hessen Paust in the Association for Safer Drug Policy. – I believe that several of the central problems here are insoluble. And I hope that the committee will have the courage to say that, rather than come up with solutions that are not really sustainable, says Hessen Paust to news. He believes the committee’s mandate sets up an impossible problem. – It is signaled that the level of punishment should not be increased, and specifies that drug addicts should not be met with tangible reactions. At the same time, there is a desire for the police to have effective detection tools, i.e. invasive coercive measures, he says and continues: – It is difficult to justify as proportionate if the level of punishment is not to be severe. Last spring, the Supreme Court said that drug addicts who were caught with a certain amount of drugs on them should not be punished. The Attorney General followed up with guidelines. – Many have said that it is difficult for police officers to determine who is addicted to drugs. Isn’t it good if the committee makes it clear? – If it can be clarified, that’s good. But I am not convinced that it can be done. There were many who warned against a two-track solution because this distinction is extremely difficult. He points out that the committee will also investigate how to punish people who are in the process of becoming drug addicts: – So then there are two lines of demarcation that become difficult. Lack of health personnel in the committee Both Sulland and Hessen Paust believe that the lawyers in the committee are very competent, but still lack medical expertise in the committee. Especially when it comes to determining threshold values, and creating a legal definition of who can be considered a drug addict. Sverre Nesvåg himself was on the previous government’s drug reform committee. Photo: Kaj Hjertenes / news So does research leader at the regional competence center for drug research in Helse West, Sverre Nesvåg, and researcher Linda Couëssurel Wüsthoff at Oslo University Hospital. The former was a member of the committee that investigated the Solberg government’s proposal for drug reform, which the current governing parties voted against. However, Nesvåg is unable to imagine that anyone will be able to create a legal definition of what it means to be addicted to drugs – regardless of their expertise. – I would see it as a rather impossible task. It is not impossible to define or create a description. But I don’t think I would be able to create a definition that those who enforce a piece of legislation are able to use in their daily work, says Nesvåg to news. Sverre Nesvåg says that one can, for example, use the international diagnostic systems, but that the police do not have the competence to use this: – How can the police and the judiciary find out whether you are addicted to drugs or not? Poor lawyers, I would say, says Nesvåg. Wusthoff at OUS believes that the committee should have a greater breadth of subject areas than the three lawyers represent. – Can three lawyers decide what the threshold values should be? – No, I do not think so. I think you need medical expertise to do that, she says. Minister of Justice Mehl writes in his reply to news that the selection is small, and the questions to be investigated require a high level of legal expertise within criminal law and criminal procedure. – In the mandate, it is assumed that the committee must acquire knowledge and expertise from relevant professional environments and organisations. This could, for example, be health-related expertise or expertise in crime prevention and drug prevention work, writes Mehl. Read the full response to Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Emilie Enger Mehl The Center Party and the Labor Party must put forward a comprehensive prevention and treatment reform in the drug field. The committee that has now been set up will investigate the criminal law and criminal procedural aspects of the reform. These questions are a limited part of the work to create a better drug policy. Drug addicts must be met with health care instead of punishment. At the same time, it is important to state that drug use is illegal and the government does not want to decriminalize possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use. We are concerned that the police and others should have good tools to be able to prevent, detect and investigate drug crime. The criminal law and criminal procedural aspects of the prevention and treatment reform raise complex questions, which require a thorough and professionally sound assessment, so that any legislative changes in the field are effective. The selection is small, and the questions to be investigated require a high level of legal expertise within criminal law and criminal procedure. The mandate stipulates that the committee must acquire knowledge and expertise from relevant professional environments and organisations. This could, for example, be health-related expertise or expertise in crime prevention and drug prevention work. This will ensure a broad approach to the questions to be assessed, including which threshold values should apply and, as far as possible, how the concept of drug addict should be legally defined.
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