Kan vi inte prata om det här? En rättssociologisk narrativ analys kring sociala och rättsliga normer om cannabisbruk.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of the different normative perspectives on a legalization or decriminalization of cannabis in Sweden. Since the debate on the global political arena has changed during the last couple of years concerning “The War on Drugs” we found an interesting aspect in researching what this wind of change might bring, and what it already brought, to Sweden. The main focus of this study is to explore the social and legal norms concerning the use of cannabis in Sweden and the attitudes towards a potential legalization. Our research therefore focused on social and legal norms surrounding the use of cannabis from a narrative criminological perspective and techniques of neutralization. The paper consists of six semi-structured interviews with both users and police concerning their personal opinions on; cannabis in general, a potential legalization and their view on the opposing group. These two groups were selected since they represent the, often, opposing sides of the spectrum concerning views on cannabis. The analysis of the study therefore focus on the different narratives and Sykes & Matzas’ techniques of neutralization in combination with Cohens’ denial that may uphold, justify and reinforce the belief in the norms concerning the use of cannabis. The norms and narratives where then put in contrast to each other and the narratives towards cannabis use, legalization and the opposing part were then analyzed thoroughly to find the differences and similarities that may exist between these two groups. It was through the analysis of our material that we discovered the fundamental narratives, used by both groups. These narratives in combination with techniques of neutralization were used against the opposing party to justify or to ridicule their perspective and narrative. An act both groups were found guilty of. We found that the social and legal norms ability to coexist and reproduce themselves, social norms through users and legal norms through the police, comes from these two groups inability to discuss the matter. A way of looking at the other group as misinformed and fanatical in their opinions, makes both group believe a consensus is nowhere to be found. Because of the absence of a debate the norms were never questioned and could therefore thrive and survive.