Danish cannabis policy revisited: Multiple framings of cannabis use in policy discourse. Issue 4 (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Søgaard, Thomas Friis; Nygaard-Christensen, Maj; Frank, Vibeke Asmussen
• Is Part Of: Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift. Volume 38:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 377
• Page End: 393
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: cannabis -- Denmark -- discourse analysis -- drug policy -- framing; Alcoholism -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; Drug abuse -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; 616.86
• DOI: 10.1177/14550725211018602
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1455-0725

Abstract

Aim: This article traces recent developments in Danish cannabis policy, by exploring how "cannabis use" is problematised and governed within different co-existing policy areas. Background: Recently, many countries have changed their cannabis policy by introducing medical cannabis and/or by moving toward legalisation or decriminalisation. Researchers have thus argued that traditional notions of cannabis as a singular and coherent object, are being replaced by perspectives that highlight the multiple ontological character of cannabis. At the same time, there is growing recognition that drug policy is not a unitary phenomenon, but rather composed by multiple "policy areas", each defined by particular notions of what constitutes the relevant policy "problem". Design: We draw on existing research, government reports, policy papers and media accounts of policy and policing developments. Results: We demonstrate how Danish cannabis policy is composed of different co-existing framings of cannabis use; as respectively a social problem, a problem of deviance, an organised crime problem, a health- and risk problem and as a medical problem. Conclusion: While the international trend seems to be that law-and-order approaches are increasingly being replaced by more liberal approaches, Denmark, on an overall level, seems to be moving in the opposite direction: Away from a lenient decriminalisation policy and towards more repressive approaches. We conclude that the prominence of discursive framings of cannabis use as a "problem of deviance" and as "a driver of organised crime", has been key to this process.