After visting Oslo I asked myself the same question. Strange as it may seem, and from what I have been told, the area close to the railwaystation is not regulated by the police in this sense. However, it is likley that people living in Oslo will have a more informed perspective on this.

You’re kidding right? Glue sniffing? Maybe times have changed since I lived there for a couple of months in 1989.. and I had just graduated high school so sure I was naive.. but I never saw anything like that anywhere. Besides that.. can you think of any big city that doesn’t have its share of homeless and drug addicts? It’s hardly just Oslo – try San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, BC.. of the cities that I live near, it’s common. It’s human nature.

How can you possibly say they ‘tolerate’ that? Every city has a problem wiping that out w/out seeming completely cold and uncompassionate to someone’s life who might have problems and seems to wants to live their life that way.

And there is so much more to Oslo than that anyway.. history, gorgeous architecture, art, the scenery of the fjords and the mountains, and the people are so so nice.. some of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met.

I think you haven’t quite opened your mind in order to say that seeing Oslo isn’t worth it.. because it really is.

(double post, double answer)
Well, yes.. as long as they’re not doing anything obviously illegal what do you expect the police to do? It’s perfectly legal to smell bad, dress worse and behave “differently” .. and whats the alternative anyway? Lock up everyone the “normal” people don’t find attractive?
Aren’t we suppose to treat everyone the same?

pic by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjarnebilder/286733031/

many, if not all, Norwegians are asking the same question. it’s sad. (but there are many other nice places in Oslo).

Alright, I`ll get my wife who lived in and around aslo for 19 to 20 years of her 23 year life to give a better answere, but here is mine.

I do not live in Osblo, but it is not much better here in Bergen, though at least there are several who try to earn a living on the streets (two accourdianists one guitar player, and one ver impressive profetional and clean american juggler\commedian that I have notice so far. The american comes to Norway from the States for the summer every year and actually has a place to live, but still makes his living off his perfomrances, so I am not sure if her would count or not. anyways…)

Øyvind made a good point, they can not do much unless they can actually see them doing something illegal, and even then it is hard to arrest someone because even if they are disobeying the law they are mostly just hurting them selves. Also, you would be rewarding them by giving them a warm place to stay and hot meals.

Another thing is that while Norway is very socialist, it is not at all communist. That is to say, they take care of their peaople very well and tax them heavily, but even with a national state-controlled church they do not control the average persons personal life so much at all. In that sense, Norway is very much like the United States, accept recyling servises and general security are better in the states while health care and education is WAY cheaper in Norway. Right now I do not think the gov. can do much, but with such a social system I am as surprised as you that there are not Norwegian laws in place that allow police to force the homeless into paid-for housing, drug rehab centers, and job training facilities.

That is all for now. I will try to get my wifes opinion on it, as well as her fathers. As a very religiouse(alternative christian-based) American who has been working for the Oslo police department in the technology secter for like 30 years or something, he is bound to have an interesting opinion on the matter.

I’ve been debating all day if I should even bother answering this snippy and non-constructive question.

I guess I don’t so much have a problem with your general theorectical question (generously rephrased) “how have some people slipped through the cracks of society, and why isn’t there more help available for them, even in one of the richest countries in the world?” What I do have a problem with is the bitchy way in which you ask it. Yeah, I’m standing up for Oslo—and its junkies.

I’m with missdevylish—have you never been to any other city of considerable size? Almost every single city I’ve been to (from Fairbanks, Alaska to Istanbul) has panhandlers or others from the fringes of society, and they are usually pretty prominently strewn around the busiest parts of the city.

I actually live in Oslo, and in my experience the panhandlers/junkies are polite and respectful. If someone asks me for money, it’s almost always in a kind way, often a humorous way. I always say “no”, and the person usually says “thanks anyway” or something like that —and they speak great English! The junkies and other odd people around the city are also kind to my children, which was a little shocking to me at first.

Maybe you were just projecting your frustration and focusing it on these highly visible yet unsightly people. Oslo is expensive… very expensive… and I could see it being frustrating to be a tourist here for that reason. But I certainly would not say that Oslo was “not worth visiting” because of the junkies.