Kemsex

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study was to further the knowledge and understanding of chemsex in a Swedish context from the perspective of professionals working in LGBT1 and HIV-prevention non-governmental organisations. Further issues that were explored was how drug prevention and information distribution differ between Sweden and Great Britain. And also, what challenges that The Public Health Agency of Sweden, The National Board of Health and Welfare and Swedish non-governmental organisations face regarding chemsex. The empirical material has been gathered via semi-structured interviews with six people working in non-governmental organisations and at the university. The sample choice was made because chemsex is a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden with few studies on the subject and no policy or directives published by Swedish agencies. The collected empirical material was processed with a thematic analysis to highlight recurring themes and then analysed further with Meyers minority stress model; and Rubins theoretical framework cultural thought patterns about sex. The findings suggest that chemsex does occur in Sweden at a smaller scale compared to London. Chemsex seems to be most common among younger MSM and HIV-positive MSM who live in metropolitan areas. The Swedish drug policy on zero tolerance makes it challenging to work with risk reduction strategies that professionals promote as the best answer for chemsex. The findings suggest that to promote a successful chemsex strategy social work professionals need more competence regarding sexuality- and LGBT issues, risk reduction needs to be endorsed by national agencies and finally that non-governmental organisations need funding and political protection to promote chemsex as a health issue.