Norwegian Regard for the Individual: The Case of the Heroin Addict

Probably, nothing reveals more about a society than the way it treats its most unfortunate members. If so, what does it say about Norway about the way it treats its heroin addicts?

In a National Geographic Television (NGT) documentary I recently saw about the heroin trade issuing from Afghanistan, it was revealed that Afghanistan is now responsible for 90 percent of the world heroin trade. It seems that the Taliban have decided that one way they were going to fight against NATO forces in Afghanistan was to use the poison of heroin against NATO home countries (one of which happens to be Norway). Not only would they be earning hard currency to finance their war, they would also be undermining society in these countries. Accordingly, the Taliban have seen fit to coddle heroin farmers, insulating these from NATO interdiction.

Heroin addiction is not a pretty thing. The Norwegian addicts featured in the NGT documentary consisted of a couple-a boyfriend and girlfriend. They seemed always to be in a haze when off the drug and they seemed, from the slowness of their walk, to find the mere act of walking painful or a difficult skill of coordination. The power of heroin’s grip was transparently revealed by the male Norwegian addict’s confession: He indicated that he was so tired of his life and he longed for a normal life in which he went to work in the mornings and came home in the evenings. He apologized to family and friends for disappointing them and causing them suffering through empathy with his condition. Still, he did not feel he could get out of his addiction, just yet.

Fortunately for him, he lives in Norway. Norway treats its heroin addicts in the most humane possible way. For example, to provide its addicts with income so that they don’t resort to crime, Norway provides them with magazines subsidized by the Norwegian government which they can then sell on the streets. So Norwegian addicts do not starve, the Norwegian government provides them with subsidized cafeterias. Most controversial of all, the Norwegian government, to see to it that Norway’s addicts don’t die from preventable overdose or contract AIDS from dirty needles, provides clinics that dispense clean hypodermics and medical supervision when those addicts shoot up heroin (i.e. inject heroin into their bloodstream).

So what do these measures say of Norwegian society? The attitude seems to be one of damage control and patient support until the addict decides that it’s time to get well again. Indeed, the male Norwegian addict indicated that he could get no sense of being looked down upon by any member of Norwegian society. He should be so lucky. It would be the easiest thing for a less enlightened society to take a more self-righteous and vindictive stance.

Norway’s attitude to its addicts recalls an argument from the evolutionary biologist, Stephen Jay Gould, when he said (Dennett 1995: 311):

We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes-one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own way.

If we replace indifference with empathic solicitude, then Gould’s quote seems to capture eminently well Norway’s respect for individual decision.