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TO RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN IMMEDIATE 3219
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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000759 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHSR PLS PASS TO ONDCP CHRISTINE KOURTIDES 
COPENHAGEN FOR DEA MORAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PREL PTER AF SW
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR WHITE HOUSE ONDCP DIRECTOR R. GIL 
KERLIKOWSKE VISIT TO STOCKHOLM, DECEMBER 7-10 
 
STOCKHOLM 00000759  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Introduction 
------------- 
 
¶1. (U) Embassy Stockholm warmly welcomes you to Sweden.  Your 
visit provides an opportunity to further cement close and 
collaborative bilateral relations with a nation and a 
government whose outlook on key international issues closely 
matches ours.  For example, Sweden's foreign and defense 
ministers both fully endorsed the President's recent speech 
on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Sweden contributes to both 
the military mission (with 500 troops) and the civilian 
assistance effort (especially in rule of law, health and 
education).  You may wish to highlight these contributions in 
your meetings here and in any possible media event; note the 
direct connection between Afghan poppy fields and drugs on 
the streets of Sweden; and express your appreciation that 
Swedish forces in ISAF are helping to prevent the scourge of 
heroin use in Europe. 
 
¶2. (U) Sweden's government is led by a four-party 
center-right coalition that, in 2006, unseated the Social 
Democrats who had governed Sweden for most of the 20th 
century. The new government embarked on an ambitious economic 
reform aimed at increasing employment, reducing welfare 
dependence, and streamlining the state's role in the economy. 
The economy slid into recession in 2008 as a result of 
deteriorating global conditions -- considerably restricting 
the scope of the government to press on with its reform 
program. Jockeying is in full swing for the next 
parliamentary election taking place in 2010, with the 
governing coalition head-to-head with the Social Democrats in 
the polls.  The focus in the upcoming campaign will remain on 
economic and job issues, although immigration will also be on 
the docket.  Sweden also holds the EU Presidency until the 
end of 2009, and has focused on climate change and ushering 
in the Lisbon Treaty to streamline EU decision-making and 
increase the EU,s international clout.  As the head of the 
EU, Sweden has acted as a useful interlocutor on many Justice 
and Home Affairs issues, including combating transnational 
crime, cybercrime, and terrorism. 
 
DRUGS IN SWEDEN 
--------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Sweden is not a significant illicit drug producing 
country.  However, it is increasingly becoming a transit 
country for illegal drugs from South America, West Africa, 
Eastern Europe, China, and Afghanistan smuggled via other EU 
countries to other Nordic countries and Eastern Europe, 
according to police reports.  Drugs enter the country 
concealed in commercial goods, by air, ferry, or truck. The 
fight against illegal drugs is an important government 
priority and enjoys strong support among a public highly 
intolerant of illegal drugs. 
 
¶4. (U) There are an estimated 26,000 serious drug (heroin, 
cocaine) users in Sweden.  Amphetamines and cannabis remain 
the most popular illegal drugs and the influx of 
methamphetamine has been on the rise.  Total heroin usage 
remained stagnant since 2008 but the abuse of anabolic 
steroids continued to rise.  The quantity of narcotics 
ordered over the internet, such as Mephedrone, GBL, Methylon, 
and Salvia, also increased in 2009.  About 20 percent of high 
school aged boys and girls have claimed to have tried drugs, 
mainly cannabis.  Limited residential cultivation of cannabis 
occurs, along with a limited number of small kitchen labs 
producing methamphetamine and anabolic steroids.  There are 
no reports of any large scale narcotics laboratories in 
Sweden. Khat usage remains restricted to specific immigrant 
communities. 
 
¶5. (U) Some 80 percent of cannabis in Sweden comes from 
Morocco, the remainder from the Middle East and Central Asia. 
Most seized amphetamines originate in Poland, Netherlands, 
and the Baltic countries. Cocaine originates in South America 
and is smuggled through major European ports, and then by 
land or air.  South American smugglers and dealers have long 
dominated the cocaine trade, however, competition form other 
criminal groups, such as Serbians and Russians, has lead to a 
price decrease.  In 2000, one gram of cocaine cost the 
equivalent of $200, today the price is as low as $55-$120 in 
Stockholm and $110-$140 in southern Sweden. 
 
¶6. (U) Heroin is mainly of Afghan origin and individuals from 
Serbia or Kosovo dominate the distribution networks of Afghan 
heroin, most often called "brown heroin."  Opium, although 
 
STOCKHOLM 00000759  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
not a significant source of addiction in Sweden, also 
originates mainly from Afghanistan and surrounding countries. 
 It is usually smuggled to Sweden from Iran via persons on 
airplanes.  Opium smuggling and distribution networks are 
almost exclusively controlled by individuals with Iranian or 
Middle Eastern origin.  On a separate note, several Members 
of Parliament recently told us that they have had a hard time 
convincing their constituents why Swedish forces should be in 
Afghanistan, and they asked us for information on 
Afghan-origin heroin in Europe.  You may wish to highlight in 
your meetings here and in any possible media event the direct 
connection between Afghan poppy field and drugs on the 
streets of Sweden, and express your appreciation that Swedish 
forces in ISAF are helping to prevent the scourge of heroin 
use in Europe. 
 
SWEDEN'S RESPONSE TO DRUGS 
-------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has overall 
responsibility for Sweden's national drug policy.  The main 
goal is to achieve a drug-free society by preventing drug 
abuse, helping people with substance abuse problems to 
recover, and reducing drug supply.  The government action 
plan on narcotics, supported by a budget of about USD 37 
million annually, focuses on prevention, local level 
engagement, and EU wide as well as international cooperation. 
 Priority is given to children, young people, and parents 
with special attention given to the school environment. 
 
¶8. (U) You will be seeing  the Youth Chapter at the Stockholm 
Police Narcotics Division, which, since 2004, employs a 
one-of-a-kind work method in Sweden. The Youth Chapter's 
mission is to provide assistance and treatment in conjunction 
with arrests and to prevent youth narcotics addiction at an 
early stage. This collaborative venture between the police 
division and the Ministry of Public Health and Social 
Services was recognized this year as the best 
crime-prevention project in Sweden and will represent Sweden 
in the European Crime Prevention Network contest in December. 
 
WHO IS MARIA LARSSON? 
-------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) You will also be meeting with Maria Larsson who, as 
the Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health, is 
responsible for public health, disability issues, social, and 
elderly services.  As such, she is responsible for Sweden's 
national policy on alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, and doping. 
She is a member of the Christian Democratic Party, the 
smallest party in the ruling coalition, and is also the 
Deputy Chairman of the party since 2003.  She has been a 
member of the Swedish Parliament since 1998 and has served on 
the Parliament's committees on Industry and Trade, Foreign 
Affairs, Labor Market and Equality Issues.  Larsson began her 
political career in 1988 as a local politician in southern 
Sweden, her home base.  Trained as a schoolteacher, she has 
15 year of middle-school teaching experience.  The 53 
year-old Larsson is married with three children. 
BARZUN