A member of parliament in Norway is likely to lose his parliamentary seat after admitting to using cannabis.
Labour Party’s Thor Erik Forsberg admitted in a recent interview with the Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad news agency that over the last several years he has used cannabis on a regular basis for medicinal purposes.
Forsberg explained that he used the drug to replace traditional anti-depressive medication during periods of anxiety: “I smoked cannabis because it gave me a medicinal effect. I relaxed and was able to sleep. My work days were long and I was only sleeping three to four hours a night for several months,” he told the newspaper.
The 32-year-old MP also said that cannabis helped him deal with his experience of interacting with Utoeya Island survivors and dealing with a death in his own family. His also suggested that he may have used the drug as little as three weeks ago.
Whilst some have supported the young MP, officials from the Labour Party say he will no longer be able to represent the group in the country’s parliament. Moreover, reports say that he could lose his seat altogether, although Forsberg has said that he wishes to retain his role as an MP nonetheless.
The news comes three years after Forsberg sought to legalise cannabis in the Scandinavian country. The effort was largely ignored by the Norwegian drug policy committee, although the group acknowledged that treatment may be better than prosecution for many drug-related criminal cases.