Norway is to become the first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs as it focuses on treatment rather than punishment.
Sveinung Stensland, deputy chairman of the Storting Health Committee, told Norwegian publication VG: “It is important to emphasise that we do not legalise cannabis and other drugs, but we decriminalise.
Heroin Founded in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, heroin is one of the world’s oldest drugs.
Norway’s Country Drug Report released this year shows in 2014, the latest figures available, 266 people died from drug-related deaths.
The Norwegian Health Committee is planning a trip to Portugal in February, which decriminalised personal possession of drugs in 2001.
The country made the move following a heroin epidemic and the highest drug-related Aids deaths in the European Union (EU).
Norway could join other countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and certain US states including California and Colorado, which have liberalised drug laws. »