CHAPTER 1 THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The two practices described above illustrate different outcomes of drug policies in the Netherlands and Sweden during the 1990s. However, this thesis is not about contemporary drug policies. They rather form the point of departure for a study on how two societies reacted when the "modern" drug problem emerged in the 1960s, as elsewhere in the Western world. I use the term "modern drug problem" to demarcate contemporary drug problems from previous periods in which drugs have been used in both countries. In this study an attempt is made to find an answer to the question: Why are there no coffee shops in Sweden and why do the Dutch police not sample urine tests at rave parties? Tounderstand how these practices have crystallised, a historical perspective is needed, including the interactions betweenthe development of the drug policies and the international and national contextsin which they emerged. In the following, some theoretical starting points for this study will be outlined and methods discussed.