Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday
Danish teens cycling drunk and losing control, the party hoping to decriminalise drugs, and teen cannabis dealers in Christiania are among the top news stories in Denmark on Monday.
One in three Danish teens bike so drunk they lose control
Nearly thirty percent of Danish teens age 16-19 admit to riding their bike "even if they were so drunk that they had difficulty steering," according to research by the Danish Road Safety Council (Rådet for Sikker Trafik) and reported by newswire Ritzau.
"We are well aware that we cannot get all young people to stop cycling after drinking alcohol. But we want to stop those who are most drunk," Morten Wehner of the Danish Road Safety Council wrote in a press release.
Doctors at Rigshospitalet, Denmark's largest hospital, say they're woefully familiar with the dangers cycling drunk poses to young people.
"They risk serious injuries, such as skull fractures or bleeding in the brain, which can cost them their health or, in the worst case, their lives," Emily Øberg, a trauma manager at Rigshospitalet, wrote. "They can have internal bleeding, which can also be life-threatening and require emergency surgery."
READ MORE: 'The Vikings also wore helmets': Danes draw on marauding past for cycle safety ad
Young cannabis dealers in Christiania worry residents
Residents of Christiania, the autonomous commune in downtown Copenhagen, say they're as alarmed as police are to see teenage drug dealers on their streets — but insist it can't fall to members of the public in Christiania to police their neighbours.
Between September 1st to November 21st alone, 17 minors were charged with selling euphoric drugs in Christiania, newspaper Berlingske reports.
"Previously, Christianites would have intervened and shouted at them, but now we can see that 15-16-year-olds are behind the stalls, without anything happening," Copenhagen police inspector Tommy Laursen told Berlingske.
Hulda Mader, a Christiania spokesperson, says responsibility falls squarely on Copenhagen police — "the intensive efforts made by the police last year [to increase criminalisation of cannabis, ed.] have meant that the cannabis market has gone from bad to worse," she said to Berlingske.
As Mader describes it, "more humane and decent pushers" have been supplanted by gangs. "It is a societal problem and not a Christiania problem."
"I don't know what other neighbourhoods in the country ask people to go out and try to make sure that crime doesn't happen. You don't do that," Mader added.
Moderates push to decriminalise drugs for personal use
Centrist party the Moderates (Moderaterne) have announced a desire to decriminalise drugs for personal use and refocus police efforts on dealers, Berlingske reports.
"Criminalisation is stigmatisation, which means that the stigmatised go under society's radar and do not seek help," Moderate member of parliament Nanna Gotfredsen told Berlingske. "This entails the risk of all kinds of diseases, amputations of arms and legs, overdoses and so on."
Under Danish law, drug use is not directly criminal, but it is a crime to possess drugs, regardless of whether it is for personal use or because you intend to sell them to others, Ritzau writes.
READ MORE: Five laws foreigners in Denmark are bound to break
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One in three Danish teens bike so drunk they lose control
Nearly thirty percent of Danish teens age 16-19 admit to riding their bike "even if they were so drunk that they had difficulty steering," according to research by the Danish Road Safety Council (Rådet for Sikker Trafik) and reported by newswire Ritzau.
"We are well aware that we cannot get all young people to stop cycling after drinking alcohol. But we want to stop those who are most drunk," Morten Wehner of the Danish Road Safety Council wrote in a press release.
Doctors at Rigshospitalet, Denmark's largest hospital, say they're woefully familiar with the dangers cycling drunk poses to young people.
"They risk serious injuries, such as skull fractures or bleeding in the brain, which can cost them their health or, in the worst case, their lives," Emily Øberg, a trauma manager at Rigshospitalet, wrote. "They can have internal bleeding, which can also be life-threatening and require emergency surgery."
READ MORE: 'The Vikings also wore helmets': Danes draw on marauding past for cycle safety ad
Young cannabis dealers in Christiania worry residents
Residents of Christiania, the autonomous commune in downtown Copenhagen, say they're as alarmed as police are to see teenage drug dealers on their streets — but insist it can't fall to members of the public in Christiania to police their neighbours.
Between September 1st to November 21st alone, 17 minors were charged with selling euphoric drugs in Christiania, newspaper Berlingske reports.
"Previously, Christianites would have intervened and shouted at them, but now we can see that 15-16-year-olds are behind the stalls, without anything happening," Copenhagen police inspector Tommy Laursen told Berlingske.
Hulda Mader, a Christiania spokesperson, says responsibility falls squarely on Copenhagen police — "the intensive efforts made by the police last year [to increase criminalisation of cannabis, ed.] have meant that the cannabis market has gone from bad to worse," she said to Berlingske.
As Mader describes it, "more humane and decent pushers" have been supplanted by gangs. "It is a societal problem and not a Christiania problem."
"I don't know what other neighbourhoods in the country ask people to go out and try to make sure that crime doesn't happen. You don't do that," Mader added.
Moderates push to decriminalise drugs for personal use
Centrist party the Moderates (Moderaterne) have announced a desire to decriminalise drugs for personal use and refocus police efforts on dealers, Berlingske reports.
"Criminalisation is stigmatisation, which means that the stigmatised go under society's radar and do not seek help," Moderate member of parliament Nanna Gotfredsen told Berlingske. "This entails the risk of all kinds of diseases, amputations of arms and legs, overdoses and so on."
Under Danish law, drug use is not directly criminal, but it is a crime to possess drugs, regardless of whether it is for personal use or because you intend to sell them to others, Ritzau writes.
READ MORE: Five laws foreigners in Denmark are bound to break
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