Statens kontroll eller individens frihet : En ideologianalys av statens och individens roll rörande Sveriges och Portugals narkotikalagstiftningar

The European Union has created a common plan regarding narcotics use and abuse within the European member states. The aim here is to reduce the supply and demand for drugs among the citizens of the Union. However, the opinions on how to achieve these goals greatly differ among member states. The range of attitudes varies from the strictly restrictive attitudes of countries such as Sweden, to the complete decriminalization of personal possession of all narcotic substances in Portugal. The purpose of this paper is therefore to study the underlying attitudes and approaches that these two countries have, and hopefully to give some light to how come there is this big difference in legal frameworks regarding a rather delicate political question. A review and analyze of the current proposition for each country regarding drug policies is the method for the paper. By interpreting the content and quoting parts of these two propositions an ideology analysis is made. The theory chapter consists of the two different philosophies of Rousseau’s theory on the social contract and the general will, as well as objectivism. These theories are used in order to make a distinction in the empirical research between attitudes towards the states’ as well as the individuals’ role in the drug policies of Sweden and Portugal. A model with the most important features of these theories is constructed and works as a base for the analysis. Overall, the results from the empirical research show that while both countries initially share the same general value towards the narcotics situation, Sweden devotes their policies more frequently towards the Rousseauian values up until the point of treating drug addicts, where they change directions and instead argue in a more objectivistic manner. On the contrary, Portugal reason in a more individualistic and objectivistic way, but change ideological paths into Rousseauianism when starting to set up aims for the treatment of addicts and offenders