Pot growing up, moonshine down in Sweden

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 7 (UPI) -- Stockholm police said they have noticed a spike in the popularity of home-based marijuana farming while alcohol bootlegging has decreased.

Jonas Wendel of the Stockholm police's narcotics unit told the Metro newspaper police have seen such an increase in marijuana growing that investigators believe the majority of cannabis being sold and smoked in the country came from Sweden, The Local.se reported Thursday.

"A few years ago, we've found a few plants in closets and stuff like that, but now it's not unusual for people to erect growing tents with hundreds of plants," Wendel said.

Experts said police have also noticed alcohol home-brewing is on the decline.

"In the beginning of the 2000s home distilleries accounted for 3 percent of alcohol consumption in the country, while it now accounts for 1 percent," said Bjorn Trolldal of the substance abuse prevision group Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems.