STOCKHOLM The students of the first year of the Lundellska high school in Uppsala visited the Swedish Parliament, i.e. the Diet, from the beginning of the week. The study trip had been prepared throughout the fall semester.
Just a week before the trip, quite a bit of news was heard from the Diet.
Evening newspaper Aftonbladet revealedthat traces of cocaine were found in four toilets near the parliamentary offices of the parties.
There are eight parties in the State Parliament, which means drug traces were found near every other party office.
Aftonbladet collected samples from toilets with test cloths. Signs of cocaine stuck to them near the offices of the Social Democrats, the Sweden Democrats, the Left Party and the Liberals.
The toilets investigated by Aftonbladet can also be used by Dietitian staff or party guests, but not, for example, by people coming to public galleries.
Martha Forsberg teaches social studies to Lundellska school high school students. According to Forsberg, the students were shocked by the cocaine residue.
– In their opinion, there shouldn’t be drugs specifically here, in a great place that shouldn’t be associated with anything suggestive of decadence and drugs. The students have tough demands and expectations especially in relation to the Diet, Forsberg describes the feelings during the visit.
Cocaine everywhere
Having worked as a drug police officer for 30 years Lennart Karlsson the Diet’s cocaine findings are not surprising. He works too the drug police association as chairman. The association has 2,000 members.
According to Karlsson, there is now so much cocaine in Sweden that signs of it can be found in all large workplaces. At the Diet has 349 MPs and approximately 700 employees.
– This could have been eye-opening information for a large Swedish audience. If signs of drugs can be found in the Diet, then they can be found everywhere, says Karlsson.
According to him, the image that cocaine is used only in the so-called better circles on weekends and at parties is no longer true.
– Drug investigations show that cocaine is everywhere in Sweden. It can be found in all social classes, in all groups, among all professionals, in all workplaces.
Karlsson does not doubt Aftonbladet’s test results, because the results of the test cloths approach one hundred percent certainty. According to Karlsson, cloths can also turn blue from some cleaning agents, but then the color change is uniform. The blue spots on Aftonbladet’s test cloths are typical for cocaine.
Gangs crave co-dependency
Karlsson is sure that the Diet’s cocaine is connected to gang crime. According to him, gangs specifically trade cocaine, not, for example, heroin.
– The gangs work hard in order to create dependency relationships with politicians, authorities and ordinary citizens. The goal is to get them hooked and do favors, such as storing drugs. The situation is serious.
Karlsson does not want to assess whether someone in the Diet can be a target of pressure or blackmail because of their cocaine use.
Enacted by parliaments according to the laws In Sweden, all drug-related sales, distribution and use are criminal and punishable.
From Sweden to Finland and Norway
According to Karlsson, the drug trade has changed in recent years, as the demand for cocaine in North America has decreased and the drug cartels have seen an opportunity to collect more money from Europe and, for example, the Nordic countries.
So there is a lot of cocaine in Sweden now?
– There is a lot of cocaine in Sweden. This is evidenced, for example, by the year-by-year larger batches that customs and the police reveal.
Some of the cocaine that came to Sweden is loaded east and west.
– Yes, Sweden is a transit country for the Norwegian and Finnish drug markets, explains Karlsson.
Karlsson learned about Aftonbladet’s results in advance. As a police officer, he had to file a criminal report on the information. However, it does not lead to punishments, because based on the test cloths, no single person can be shown to be a cocaine user in the Diet.
Drug residues also came up during a meeting between Uppsala students and three members of parliament. According to teacher Märtha Forsberg, the MPs said they considered the findings extremely serious.