The National Organization for a Drug-Free Sweden, RDS, an organization with close ties to the Scientology movement, has received a total of SEK 333,000 from the Swedish Transport Administration to produce information on drugs.

Among other things, RDS lectures in Swedish schools and goes by names such as Drogfritt, Droginformation.nu and the campaign I Say No Drugs.

In 2014 and 2018, RDS received a so-called campaign grant from the Swedish Transport Administration. A total of 333,000, according to invoices requested by SVT News from the authority.

In 2018, this is a payment of SEK 200,000 to produce a brochure on cannabis in traffic.

Researcher: Substandard

In the project description it can be read that the material should be offered to traffic schools, parents and high school students.

But Amir Englund, a cannabis researcher at King's College London, is critical of the material.

- Overall, it's pretty substandard. If a student of mine had produced this, they would not have been approved.

Amir Englund also responds that only half a page in the booklet "Cannabis in Traffic" actually touches on the drug's effect on driving.

On the other hand, it is learned that those who use cocaine contribute to terrorism, environmental degradation and animal cruelty.

- It is very clear that this is more about forming opinion than informing about cannabis and traffic - although there are a lot of good studies on the subject whose conclusions could be helpful for those who read the material, says Amir Englund.

Bad source reference

Englund is also critical of the basis for several facts.

- You do not refer to any specific studies, instead you list general sources such as the Public Health Authority, the Swedish Narcotics Police Association and Läkartidningen.se. Then you cannot investigate the basis of the claim yourself, which is a problem.

In RDS's own marketing and on the first page of "Cannabis in Traffic" you can also read that the material has been fact-checked by the Swedish Transport Agency, which is not quite right.

In an e-mail to SVT News, the Swedish Transport Agency states that only the information relating to drugs and traffic has been reviewed, which takes up half a page in the brochure - about the same amount devoted to drugs and environmental degradation.

At the Swedish Transport Administration, it is said that non-profit associations that meet the requirements set by the authority can apply for project money.

- If you have a project idea that supports the transport policy goals, for example that there will be less drugs in the traffic, then we can distribute money, says press manager Bengt Olsson.

"Should take a think"

The fact that RDS has close ties to the Scientology movement is not something that the Swedish Transport Administration has taken into account.

- I understand it now after you raised it. What is behind these associations is something we would not normally look for.

But for over ten years, RDS has been criticized for its drug information, which is exactly what you gave them money to produce. Is that a problem?

- Of course, with this kind of information we now get. Of course, we should take a think, is there anything else we need to do? But as we have seen it so far, we have neither had the prerequisite nor the opportunities to follow up so deeply

Will you change any routines now?

- Distributing these grants is an assignment directly from the government. You can look more closely at whether we have a sufficient regulatory framework. How far should we go in examining the background and connections with other organizations, individuals or businesses behind a nonprofit's application?

Åsa Graaf is chairman of RDS and does not want to be interviewed by SVT. Through e-mail, she defends the material that she believes should contain various aspects of cannabis. She also writes that it is important to put forward how drug trafficking affects animals and nature and finances terrorism.