Doctor Zeb Freij works at the addiction unit in Östersund.
He is very worried that addicts who visit the reception will fall there again when they see that there are clean syringes at the neighbor's.
The syringe exchange room is eight meters away.
- Addicts can be triggered by passing the syringe exchange, says Zeb Freij who has contacted the Swedish Health and Care Inspectorate, IVO, to bring about a change.
Like a pub for the alcoholic
- Both the syringe exchange and the dependency unit are really well located, but they should not be next to each other, says Zeb Freij.
It does not matter to me who moves.
But it's not good as it is.
Zeb Freij likens the walk from the addiction unit past the syringe exchange to when an alcoholic passes a pub.
- It can trigger something and lead to relapse.
The syringe exchange is part of the infection
Syringe addicts often get infections and therefore the syringe exchange belongs to the infection clinic - not to the addiction unit.
Jessica Nääs is head of the infection clinic and responsible for syringe exchange.
- We see an advantage in being close to infection and we also work with staff from the addiction unit, she says.
But Jessica Nääs is aware that it can be a problem that the two receptions are neighbors.
- I understand that it can be a trigger, but tools are still available.
We never include anyone in the syringe exchange program that we do not know inject.
We check knitting marks.
So IVO answers
IVO calls on the region to investigate the matter.
IVO writes that you should save the information and that it can lead to supervision in the area later on.