The price of amphetamine has been halved

In 35 years time for a lot to happen with the prices.

A Big Mac became 63 percent more expensive and the price of amphetamines was halved.

That narcotics are historically cheap is evident from a new report by the Central Association for Alcohol and Narcotics Information, which was released today.

With price adjustment and taking into account inflation and the consumer price index and similar terms that my colleague Andreas Cervenka usually throws around, it is purely the case that the white powder is a quarter as expensive as in 1988.

The price of heroin has dropped just as much. Hashish and cocaine have also become cheaper, even if the drop has not been as drastic.

That’s the way it is with eye-popping numbers like these. There are conclusions to be drawn, but exactly which ones tend to be in the eye of the beholder.

Probably succeed as well dogmatic defenders of the repressive Swedish drug policy as daring advocates of legalization find a more or less useful angle on the statistics.

But while we wait for politicians, debaters and drug twitter to discover the 34-page report, there are further observations to be made.

Like one of the not entirely surprising conclusions is that drugs are cheaper in the big cities than in the countryside and more expensive in the north of Sweden than in the south.

But during the 21st century, the report shows, the geographical differences have decreased.

What then is the development due to?

The most important explanation is probably that significantly more narcotics are now produced than at the end of the 90s.

As is well known, the drug trade is one of organized crime’s most lucrative sources of income, and more and more shadowy figures have sought to join the industry.

With increased supply and greater competition, prices tend to fall.

And the drug cartels have cut out middlemen and handle large parts of the distribution themselves, which pushes costs down.

A partial explanation could be that the quality of the drugs has fallen. That the goods are more diluted today than before. But various findings show that this is not the case.

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New digital sales channels? Sure, but according to an estimate made by Brå, only ten percent of the drugs are sold online.

Otherwise, it is essentially street sales and reliable taps that apply.

Some may be wondering if it is not to some extent increased demand that has led to increased supply.

Well. The situation with the Swedes’ drug habits is in and of itself notoriously difficult to form an opinion about, it is illegal to do drugs, stigmatizing in large circles, the number of people in the dark is large, but the regular surveys that are carried out show that the use has been fairly constant since 90 -the number.

Enormous seizures and deadly gang showdowns might lead us to believe that the Swedes are doing drugs more than ever, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

There are certainly studies that indicate that the party junkies have become more and more fervent, but as much as some populist and ignorant politicians want to blame this population for the gang murders, it accounts for a fairly small part of drug consumption.

It can be argued that today’s survey is another indication that the drug policy is a fiasco.

After all, Sweden is probably the country in the Western world that invests the hardest in reducing the practice by means of police efforts.

But it works also to claim the opposite, that the large drop in prices has not led to a corresponding increase in consumption shows that the Swedish way has been successful.

Regardless of which drug policy is advocated, today’s investigation is yet another reminder that it is unrealistic to believe that it is possible to wage a war that will end in victory.

The USA started its war on drugs in 1971. Many countries, not least Sweden, got involved.

Today, drug production is significantly greater than it was then.

27 years after this war was proclaimed, a Big Mac cost 24 kroner. Fast forward to 2024 and you’ll shell out 39 bucks for the same burger.

At the same time, the price has on a gram of tjak dropped from 400 kroner to 200 kroner.