Publications

A Heroin User in Stockholm - film by HCLU

19 September 2009

HCLU have produced a new short film on the dark side of Swedish drug policies, in which they mobilize people to urge the Swedish Minister of Public Health to introduce needle exchange to Stockholm.

In a society that is still intoxicated by the utopia of a drug-free world, to be a drug user is like to be an outcast, feared and rejected by “normal people”. It is quite easy to get into abstinence-based treatment (12 steps), but to enter a methadone maintenance program is hard, and even after you are in you may often face negative attitudes from the health care staff. Altough a few years ago the government adopted a new law that allows needle exchange in the country, there is still no access to sterile needles and syringes in the capital. After reviewing the evidence in hundreds of scientific studies, the relevant bodies of the UN (WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS) concluded that needle and syringe exchange programs are effective in reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS – but they do not generate more drug use.

Watch the video and take action!