Battleangel

Stupid .. ? Not that this is so typical for Sweden. Drug policy is unnecessarily harsh in many European countries and elsewhere. And what good does it do except tie up resources, fill up prisons … and of course provide a legitimacy “filler” for authorities when there is no violent crime or “terrorism” around.

Swedish police arrested 130 people for drugs-related offences at a reggae festival in Uppsala over the weekend.

“It was an open drug scene,” said police spokesman Christer Nordström.

“Maybe we could have arrested more if there had been more of us, but I think the investment from the police over the weekend was good,” he said.

The festival, which is in its fifth year, is the biggest in Scandinavia and 10,000 reggae-lovers from across Sweden and elsewhere in Europe descended upon Uppsala for three days of music.

“I can’t accept that it should turn out like this. As it stands now we can’t recommend that there should be a festival in future.“

But the police were less gloomy about the festival’s prospects. With the exception of one suspected robbery (in which the alleged assailants were released while the victim was held on drugs charges) the festival was entirely free of violent crime.

Got to like the irony.