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A Qualitative Study of Former Drug Users' Perspectives on the Drug Market in Sweden
Malmö University, Faculty of Health and Society (HS), Department of Criminology (KR). Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3736-509X
Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden.
2026 (English)In: Journal of Drug Issues, ISSN 0022-0426, E-ISSN 1945-1369Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Over the past decade in Sweden, there has been a growing political and media discussion on the expansion of illegal drug markets. Although research has increased, few studies have examined how former drug users perceive the situation. This study explores former drug users perspectives on the illicit drug market in the 21st century. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 former drug users and four main themes were identified: (1) the violent environment, (2) the escalation of organized crime, (3) the ease of access to illegal drugs and (4) diverse perspectives on policy and prevention. There was a consensus among the interviewees that there has been an increase in organized crime and violence in the illegal drug market and that the availability of drugs in Sweden has increased during the 21st century. However, there were diverse opinions regarding drug policy and legislation. More research is needed on lived experience and attitudes to drug policy in Sweden.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE Publications , 2026.
Keywords [en]
illicit drugs, qualitative, Sweden
National Category
Criminology
Research subject
Criminology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-86881DOI: 10.1177/00220426261460706ISI: 001807000800001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105043486568OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-86881DiVA, id: diva2:2083085
Part of project
What happened in Sweden over the last 40 years? Studies on crime, gender, ethnicity and social class, Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2020-00331Available from: 2026-07-01 Created: 2026-07-01 Last updated: 2026-07-23Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
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  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
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Output format
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