The Swedish Drug Users Union (SDUU, in or ''SBF'') is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

NGO founded in October 2002 by a group of people who use drugs associated to Opiate Substitution Treatment programs in Sweden. SDUU has local chapters in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational urban areas of Sweden, city at the mouth of the Nissan (river), Nissan river, in the provinces of Sweden, province of Halland on the Sweden, Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat ...

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 41,388 inhabitants in 2020 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a Cities in Sweden, city in Västerbotten County, Sweden, with a population of 36,388. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 77,322 inhabitants in 2024. The city is historically industrial, with mining ...

and

Piteå Piteå (; ) is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. Piteå is Sweden's 58th largest city, with a population of 23,326. Geography Piteå is located at the mouth of the Pite River (), at the shore of ...

Goals and priorities

”Nothing about us without us” is the core philosophy of the organization, which means that all groups must be represented by themselves and speak on their own behalf. For example, the board of directors should only include the target group. It is stated in their statues that only users can be on the board. SDUU's ideology consists of: * make a clear distinctions between prevention,

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

, and

harm reduction Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. H ...

; * combat any care

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

; * combat the

stigmatization Stigma, originally referring to the visible marking of people considered inferior, has evolved to mean a negative perception or sense of disapproval that a society places on a group or individual based on certain characteristics such as their ...

that drug users encounter every day; * a change of focus from preservation of

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

to preservation of the right to life and health; * legislative evaluations and steps for change, including the law that says it is illegal to use and to have drugs in your body; * create an

ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

for drug users; * create a

coordinator.

Actions

SDUU organizes Swedish drug users of both legal- and illicit drugs,

opioid Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...

opiate An opiate is an alkaloid substance derived from opium (or poppy straw). It differs from the similar term ''opioid'' in that the latter is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain ( ...

users who have or wants OST/MMT (opioid substitution treatment or methadone maintenance treatment). They also support the idea of maintenance treatment for

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from Alpha and beta carbon, alpha-methylphenethylamine, methylphenethylamine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, an ...

users and other drugs. The work of the organization includes appeals, complaints, support users with different matters such as: apply for maintenance treatment, advocate for patient rights and to convince the healthcare and social workers to see and understand things from the users perspective. The group also write op-eds and carry out advocacy actions. The non-profit organizes a yearly seminar which focuses on harm reduction. One part of the seminar is an award ceremony for ”Brukarvänspriset” (the user friendly award). Earlier winners include Professor Lars Gunne - the founding father of one of the world's oldest OST (Ulleråker hospital Uppsala founded 1967), Björn Fries - former drug policy coordinator to the government, the

needle exchange A needle and syringe programme (NSP), also known as needle exchange program (NEP), is a social service that allows injection drug users (IDUs) to obtain clean and unused hypodermic needles and associated paraphernalia at little or no cost. It i ...

program in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Henrik Tham,

Ted Goldberg, The National Board of Health and Welfare and four MPs from the Left wing Party for their stance on

decriminalization Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the legislative process which removes prosecutions against an action so that the action remains illegal but has no criminal penalties or at most some civil fine. This reform is sometimes applied retroacti ...

of personal use. SDUU cooperate with several European and international organizations that support a drug policy based upon the ideas of

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. SDUU is a member of the steering committee of the EuroHRN (European Harm Reduction Network) and are the Swedish representatives for INPUD (International Network for People who Use Drugs) and NAMA (National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery), they are also associated partner with the Correlation network. In 2007 and 2008, representatives of the organization delivered statements to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is a United Nations treaty body entrusted with overseeing the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It is composed of 18 expe ...

Non Governmental Organizations Address Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
UNOG 3 November 2008.

External links

Official website

Sources

{{Drug policy Harm reduction Non-profit organizations based in Sweden Drugs in Sweden

Goals and priorities

Actions

See also

External links

Sources