"Sprutbyte - visst bara de slutar med droger". Svenska myndigheters och politikers hantering av
rena sprutor till narkomaner
Engelsk titel: "Syringe exchange - only if they stop taking drugs". Swedish authorities and politicians handling
of clean needles to drug addicts
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Författare:
Tryggvesson, Kalle
Email: kalle.trygvesson@criminology.su.se
Språk: Swe
Antal referenser: 27
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 13023491
Sammanfattning
AIMS – The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how Swedish authorities and politicians
have related to syringe exchange in Sweden during the last 25 years. As the syringe exchange in
Sweden still is very limited, this study focuses on the arguments for and against syringe exchange,
and how the question has been formulated in the political proposals during the period studied.
METHODS AND DATA – Since 1988 the National Board of Health and Welfare conducted three
major studies on the effects and relevance of syringe exchange. These studies, and the policy
documents that followed, are qualitatively analyzed in this paper. RESULTS – The processes have
all looked the same; NBHW has proposed syringe exchange programs, which are a mix of drug
policy and infection control aspects. During the political process the proposals have changed so
that the infections control aspects has been downgraded on behalf of drug-policy interests. The
arguments for this change have to their nature been abstract. CONCLUSIONS – Even though
Sweden established its first experiments with syringe exchange already in the mid-1980s, it is not
before the year 2006 that the country’s all counties by law are allowed to provide clean syringes to
their drug users. However, the law is modeled on a fear of harmful effects of drug use, and a will
to rather encourage drug treatment than other measures. Thereby the importance of the infections
control aspect is heavily undermined.