Denmark Spends Over $6Mln to Send Young Drug Addicts to Caribbean Rehab

Denmark has spent some $6.3 million in the past five years to send 59 young criminals and drug addicts to take part in a rehabilitation program in Caribbean, Danish media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the Metroexpress newspaper, the program's participants get to spend one or two years – depending on the gravity of the crimes they committed — aboard the two Danish sailing ketches operated by a rehab company Den Maritime Base. Teenagers sail through Caribbean in groups of two or three with a captain and a teacher.

One of the program’ participants, Christian – a young man who robbed a convenience store – told Metroexpress that they also did diving courses, jet-skiing and went on excursions.

The participants, most of whom dropped out of school, also have to complete an extensive study course and are required to pass exams upon their return to Denmark.

“This isn’t a cruise. There are demands made. I don’t care what they do as long as they stop abusing,” John Schmidt Andersen, the mayor of Danish Frederikssund municipality that send youth to the program, told Metroexpress.

In February, Danish National Police said that the crime rate in the country in 2014 decreased by almost 7 percent in comparison to 2013 figures. The improvement was mainly due to a fall in the number of burglaries and pickpocketing.