History
Historically, Sweden was a poor country with a comparably low standard of living. Although it is a member of the vodka belt and has a tradition of wide spread tobacco use, other drugs were rarely used until the mid-20th century. The 19th century saw the rise of the temperance movement, alongside the free churches and the labour movement. State alcohol rationing, state monopoly on retail stores in alcohol, and temperance boards in the municipalities were introduced around the First World War. This decreased alcohol use to a level that was low through the 1930s, during the world wide economic crises. The temperance boards continued to exist after alcohol rationing ended in 1955.
Read more about this topic: Drug Policy Of Sweden
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)