U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT, MARCH 1996: SWEDEN

United States Department of State

Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

SWEDEN

I. Summary

II. Status of Country

The GOS monitors imports and exports of all precursor and essential chemicals. The Swedish Medical Products Agency is responsible for precursor and essential chemical controls.

Money laundering is a crime under Swedish law, which requires banks and other financial institutions to identify new customers and register large currency transactions with the Swedish Central Bank. Swedish law also provides for the seizure of assets derived from drug-related activity. The Swedish police have established a "National Financial Intelligence Service" unit to enforce these laws.

III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 1995

Sweden participates in a number of international anti-drug fora, including the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP), and the Dublin Group. In the Spring of 1995, Sweden initiated a study on UNDCP reform. In late-1995, conclusions were published which identified a number of problems and proposed reforms. In 1996, Sweden plans to engage a number of other countries in the reform process and has set aside almost $1 million to fund seminars and other reform-related efforts. According to UNDCP, Sweden pledged approximately $6 million in FY95 contributions to the UNDCP, making it the second largest single donor. In 1995, Sweden also contributed about $1 million to the UN World Health Organization's substance abuse program."European Cities Against Drugs," an alliance of major cities that espouses zero tolerance policies, is a growing Europe-wide movement founded in Sweden in 1994. The alliance maintains its Secretariat in Stockholm.

Accomplishments. With its accession to the EU on January 1, 1995, Sweden began a closer, more formal collaboration with law enforcement and judicial authorities of its EU partners. Accordingly, the GOS passed police and customs controls legislation in 1995. Swedish customs officers continue to patrol Sweden's borders with EU countries and to inspect persons and goods when they have reason. However, with EU accession, Sweden downsized its force of customs officers by 750 positions, a reduction of 25%.

In 1995, a Swedish customs official was assigned to Moscow. Swedish police and customs drug liaison officers have been resident in The Hague, Bangkok, Athens, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Warsaw, Tallinn, Riga, Bonn, and Budapest. Sweden has an officer with the EU's European Drugs Intelligence Unit in The Hague, an organization that many expect will become part of a future "EUROPOL." A Swedish law enforcement officer is slated to be posted to Paris in 1996.

Agreements and Treaties. Sweden is a party to the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and is fully meeting the Convention's goals and objectives. Sweden also is a party to the 1961 Single Convention, as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and to the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

Sweden has bilateral Customs Agreements with the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Spain, Poland, Russia, Estonia, and Hungary. Sweden cooperates with the United States under a 1984 Extradition Treaty. A new bilateral Customs Agreement came into force in 1995 with Lithuania. Similar agreements negotiated in 1995 with Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are expected to be ratified and put into force in 1996.

Law Enforcement. Swedish law enforcement authorities are efficient and effective. In 1995, there were 11,067 individual seizures by police and customs. The drugs most often seized were amphetamines, with 4,316 seizures totaling 279 kg. The second-most commonly seized drug was cannabis/hashish, with 3853 seizures totaling 527 kg (compared to 457 kg in 1994). Swedish authorities also seized 31 kg of heroin (compared to 21 kg in 1994), and 37 kg of cocaine (compared to 29 kg in 1994).

Corruption. Corruption is very rare and, when discovered, is severely punished. Anti-corruption laws effectively deter public officials from engaging in the illicit production or distribution of drugs, and in the laundering of drug money.

Cultivation/Production. No illicit drugs are known to be cultivated or produced in significant amounts in Sweden. No amphetamine labs were seized or destroyed in 1995. Police attribute this to tight controls on precursor chemicals and to a relatively low street price for amphetamine. It is more profitable for criminals to smuggle amphetamine into Sweden than to produce it in Sweden in clandestine labs.

Drug Flow/Transit. Sweden is a destination point for narcotics from Poland, Denmark, Finland (from Russia) and the Baltic nations. The drugs enter the country in commercial goods, overland, by mail, by air and by ferry. Authorities are particularly concerned about the increase in illicit drug smuggling from Poland, the Baltics and Russia. The Netherlands remains the main source for amphetamines, but increasing amounts of amphetamines originate in Poland. Once in Sweden, few drugs are transported to other countries.

Demand Reduction. The Swedish National Institute of Public Health coordinates all drug preventive efforts. The dissemination of information on the dangers of drug abuse is compulsory in Swedish schools. Political, religious, sports, and other organizations receive government subsidies to implement information and activity programs aimed at educating youth and parents on the dangers of drug abuse. Various private organizations also are active in drug abuse prevention and public information programs.

The GOS emphasizes drug abuse prevention combined with restrictive drug policy, enforcement measures, and drug rehabilitation. For example, a program begun in early 1996 to reform a part of downtown Stockholm that had become a gathering place for addicts included, not only arrests and seizures, but also a quick link-up to social authorities for detoxification. Under Swedish law, individuals who abuse drugs can be sentenced to drug treatment.

IV. US Policy Initiatives and Programs

The Road Ahead. The USG looks forward to strengthening its good counter-narcotics cooperation with the GOS. The USG will encourage Sweden to continue to push for UNDCP reform and to expand its efforts, along with those of other European countries, to assist in the counternarcotics activities of the Baltic nations and the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union.