As Sweden have had a hegemonic view of the drug problem for many years with a hard stance against any sort of “drug” that hasn’t been prescribed by a proper doctor, the language is greatly effected by this. One interesting fact is that the actual word drugs in Swedish often is used explicitly for describing illegal drugs.As a result many Swedes do not regard alcohol and tobacco as “drugs”, because of their legal standard. Some other examples:
Knark – Is a slang word commonly used to just sum up all illegal drugs. It is pronounced with emphasis on the letter A and with the stigma surrounding the word, it often used in a uniformed way. Swedes are somewhat afraid of what it stands for.
Drogliberal – It means drug liberal and is something which is considered very bad. Even high ranking politicians sometimes use the term to describe their critics. Whether you are a global leader, Nobel prize winner, scientist or stoner doesn’t seem to matter.
Missbrukare – Someone who is dependent of a drug that negatively affects their life. But compared to addict or similar term the miss-part of the word indicates a failure of handling the control, something to be ashamed of. And it gets even stranger, since our harsh narcotic laws even prohibit consumption As a matter of fact, the police can force you to leave urine or blood tests if they suspect someone for just smoking a joint. So by law everybody in Sweden using illegal drugs is a missbrukare. (Drug addict)
Haschplanta – It may be that hash plant is a cannabis cup winner in the free world but in Sweden journalists and police seem to think that processed hashish is a fruit on plants. At least that is the conclusion one can draw from the frequent use of this word in the news about busted growers. Another version of this word is knarkplanta. See knark above.