Author Description

This publication looks at the ways in which the drug issue is handled by different actors in various social contexts in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The studies included in the volume serve as a guide to the thinking that lies behind the analyses carried out within the Nordic research project Drugs and control policy. Although the book is made up of separate studies, it is fair to say that these are tied together by a common thread. Metaphorically speaking, each of the studies represents a societal "voice", be it the legal framework, parliamentary speeches, newspaper reporting, public attitudes or statistical artefacts. Moreover, a basic assumption of the studies is that these voices are socially constructed. That, again, calls for careful analysis of the social conditions within which claims are made about drug use and drug policy.