Published: Less than 10 min ago
The number of people who are stopped under the influence of alcohol or drugs at border controls has increased by 33 percent in the past year, the Swedish Customs Administration writes in a press release.
So far, 569 drunk drivers have been stopped by the Customs Service this year, which can be compared to 426 stopped in the whole of 2021. There is also no other year in which more people have been stopped for drunk driving, according to the statistics that the Customs Service has kept since 2016.
Oscar Lindvall, who is deputy head of the Swedish Customs Administration’s control department, believes that a drug-liberal trend is behind the increase in drunken driving in Sweden.
“There is an ongoing discussion and shift in standards in several European countries about legalizing cannabis, and this will of course lead to us meeting more drivers on the road who are under the influence of drugs,” he says in the press release.
The Swedish Customs Service also finds it worrying that a third of the people who are stopped while driving while intoxicated are professional drivers. They also use amphetamines to a greater extent to stay awake when driving long trips, which Oscar Lindvall describes as completely life-threatening.