In this solo episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish outlines Denmark’s paradoxical drug environment. He describes the historic open‑air hash market on Pusher Street in the autonomous Christiania district, its repeated closures, and the contemporary shift to digital drug sales via smartphone apps like Snapchat. Mellish then contrasts illegal drug availability with the stricter regime for legal prescription medicines: doctors’ visits are free but prescriptions cost money, antibiotics are prescribed conservatively to curb resistance, and sleep aids—including melatonin—require tight controls and short‑term supplies. He warns that Danish customs actively intercept imported medicines, imposing fines that can jeopardise residency applications. Travel advice is offered on permissible personal‑use quantities of over‑the‑counter drugs. The episode also touches on Denmark’s broader pharmaceutical economics—high export revenues versus domestic cost‑containment—and notes the cultural prominence of caffeine and alcohol as the nation’s most widely used legal substances. The podcast concludes with promotional plugs for the YouTube channel, books, and speaking engagements.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. When it comes to drugs, Denmark has a conflicting approach. Getting illegal drugs doesn't seem to be too difficult, but getting legal drugs can be. Hashish, which is illegal in Denmark, was until recently very easy to procure at Pusher Street in the so-called Free State of Christiania. Christiania is one of the tourist attractions of Copenhagen. This old military base, which was taken over by hippies during the 1970s, is a unique place with dirt roads and ramshackle wooden buildings put together with odds and ends, and some gorgeous wild nature, which is surprising to find in the middle of a European capital city. Pusher Street was a row of wooden booths where, until recently, buyers could choose from a wide selection of hashish being sold openly. It's been shut down again and again in the past, usually after some violent incident or gang war, but it's always risen up again. The truth is, many people who live in Copenhagen like the fact that hashish dealing is centralized in one place. They don't want the dealers and customers coming to their neighborhoods. Anyway, much of the drug dealing in Denmark today doesn't take place on Pusher Street. It takes place via smartphones, like everything else, on apps that are popular with young people, like Snapchat. When someone has a snowflake next to their Snapchat profile image, it doesn't mean they like winter weather. Now, legal prescription drugs are a different category. Doctors' visits are free if you're covered under the Danish public health system. Prescription drugs are not free, and you will have to pay something out of pocket for them, although not as much as you might have to pay in the U.S., for example. However, many internationals have noticed that Danish doctors are not as free with prescriptions as doctors might be in their home countries. For example, it is a perennial complaint of internationals that Danish doctors are slow to prescribe antibiotics. This is because they're concerned about the development of antibiotic resistance, Danish doctors will prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections, but not for flu or other viral illnesses or just random things people want them for. I have seen some internationals take this the wrong way and get very angry. One woman told me that because she was just a refugee, her doctor wouldn't give her the good drugs. Sleep medication is another drug that can be difficult to get in Denmark, where even melatonin requires a prescription. If you can get prescription sleeping pills at all, they will be prescribed to you in very limited amounts— like 2 weeks' worth— and the doctor will keep a close eye on your use of them. Repeat prescriptions can be very difficult to get. The Danes feel you should address the underlying cause of your sleep problems instead of taking a pill. Now, you might think, I can just order this stuff from abroad or have a friend send it to me. Yeah, that would be a mistake. The Danish customs team is quite effective at finding medicine shipped in packages and envelopes, even from the EU. You will get a fine, a fine big enough to disrupt your application for permanent residency and citizenship, if you get that far. If you're traveling to Denmark, you can bring in prescription medicine for personal use, and you can also usually bring in the kind of over-the-counter medicines that are sold in your home country. Maybe your mom always used to give you some non-prescription concoction when you had a bad cold or a flu. You can probably bring a limited amount with you in your suitcase without running into problems. Now, I won't get into cases of people who move to Denmark and rely on a specific prescription drug. Sometimes you can get it here, sometimes you can't, and sometimes you will be fobbed off with a cheaper generic version. It all depends upon your luck, your doctor, and what the Danish health authorities have approved. They do their best to avoid expensive pharma. And here's where I note that much of Denmark's current prosperity is built on the sales of expensive pharma to other countries. But here at home, the Danish point of view is the fewer drugs the better. Except, of course, for caffeine. I'm I mean, the country runs on coffee and energy drinks. And alcohol, the most widely used and abused drug in Denmark. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. We've started putting some of the older podcasts on YouTube. It's all part of our 10th-year anniversary celebration. Come check us out on the How to Live in DK YouTube channel. The 2 is a number. Or pick up one of our books at books.howtoliveindenmark.com. Or book me, Kay Xander Mellish, to speak to your group or organization at events.howtoliveindenmark.com. See you next time.
