Since 2010, 26 municipalities in Denmark have spent a combined 42 million kroner to send 59 young criminals or drug abusers on rehab programmes that place the young people on a boat that cruises the Caribbean for up to two years at a time.

One of the most frequent users of the programme is Frederikssund Municipality, which has spent nearly eight million kroner on 12 individuals. At the same time the municipality has been told to cut 37 million kroner from its budget. To hit those savings targets, Frederikssund has cut down on the number of workers in daycare institutions, closed schools and began serving vacuum-sealed food to the elderly.

“I agree that it looks strange. But this isn’t a cruise. There are demands made. I don’t care what they do as long as they stop abusing [drugs],” the municipality’s mayor John Schmidt Andersen said.

A youth who was sent on one of the Caribbean boat tours, however, told Metroxpress that drug and alcohol abuse flourishes among the participants.

Helle Hald, the vice-chairman for Foreningen Hjælp Voldsofre, an association that helps the victims of violence, said the Caribbean tours are insulting. “It is an affront to the person who was wronged that those who have violated their rights get these kinds of opportunities. For me, there is no doubt that when a victim reads about these Caribbean cruises, nine out of ten of them will feel further violated and insulted,” she told Metroxpress.

bbabo.Net