Sp proposal: Will fine drug use according to income

– It must hurt to break the law. Narcotics must still be criminal and it is a serious offence, says the Center Party’s deputy leader Anne Beathe Tvinnereim to NTB.

She has chaired the program committee in the party and presented a draft of the Center Party’s new policy on Thursday.

There it is established that the use, sale and storage of drugs shall continue to be prohibited. And that no narcotic substances should be decriminalized or legalized.

Progressive fines

The program committee also proposes to introduce the same scheme as with drink-driving to fine the use and possession of drugs, meaning that the size of the fine is calculated based on income.

– We believe that it is right that it should also be a deterrent for those with high incomes, says Tvinnereim.

Today, drink-driving can be punished with fines of up to 1.5 times gross monthly income.

– Drug use is a serious threat in society today, and we see that it is a growing problem. The Center Party has a very clear drug policy and wants strict penalties, says the deputy leader.

Will hit nightclubs

The party also proposes to punish nightclubs where drugs are used.

– The Center Party will strip pubs of their liquor licenses if drugs are repeatedly used there, the draft program says.

It also stipulates that the police must be able to use coercive measures against persons suspected of using and storing drugs, including minors.

– There has been a normalization of drugs in society as a result of the Solberg government’s proposals to make drug use impunity. The police must be given tools to uncover and investigate drug crime, it says.

The draft will now be discussed in the party. A final program will be adopted at the national meeting in Haugesund in March next year.

Gets slapped by the Liberals

Venstre’s Ingvild Thorsvik is not impressed with the direction the Center Party is taking with its new proposals for drug policy.

– The Center Party must stop lying, and rather agree to a policy that saves lives. We can only get that by implementing a drug reform, she says.

She calls the politics of the Center Party ignorant.

– The Center Party and party leader Vedum blame a drug reform that never came to fruition, when it is their own drug policy that is being pursued today, and which leads to Norway being at the top of Europe in terms of overdoses. It is Vedum that is to blame for today’s failed drug policy, not the Liberal Party and the Solberg government, she says.