EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Basta Arbetskooperativ

Basta Arbetskooperativ – a new identity for drug addicts

Introduction

Basta Arbetskooperativ is a company run and headed by former drug addicts. It is a community in which former drug addicts rebuild their lives. Apprentices, junior partners and partners live, work and spend most of their spare time on the company’s premises. The former drug addicts, as members of the cooperative, are responsible for the success and failure of their endeavours. This shared responsibility is the foundation of the Basta philosophy: the pride of being independent, both as an individual and as a cooperative, helps the former addicts in building a new, more positive identity.

Problem

For a former drug-abuser above thirty with no or relatively small professional experience, the possibility to enter the labour market and find employment is minimal. It becomes even more difficult as existing labour market interventions and subsidies for unemployed people are being cut, as was the case in Sweden.

Description

Basta expresses a recent trend in the field of rehabilitation services – that organisations should be user-run. The idea that people must bear their share of the common burden of society is the driving idea behind the cooperative.

The Basta Arbetskooperativ’s revenues stem mainly from two sources: offering rehabilitation places to the Swedish authorities and selling their cooperative produce on the free market. An unusual aspect of Basta is that apprentices, junior partners and partners live, work and spend most of their spare time on the company’s site.

Basta has eleven semi-independent units:

finance and administration
canteen
computer school
construction
gardening
agriculture
horse breeding
pet hostel
carpentry
insulation of buildings
rehabilitation

Nine of these are headed by persons who have been heavily addicted to drugs.

Approach

Everyone who has been working at Basta as an apprentice for at least a year can become a junior partner based upon approval of the General Assembly of the cooperative. After another year of trial the opportunity to become a full worthy partner is open. Again the General Assembly has to approve.

There is both a professional and a personal career at Basta, two paths that are both interlinked and separate. The peak of the professional career is to become the head of one of Basta's eleven units. The personal career is geared towards developing a new identity.

At Basta, labour is one of several means to develop respect and self-confidence. Since Basta is not an ordinary treatment centre, and thus does not offer professional care or treatment in traditional terms, other tools are used in the development process.

The foundation of Basta’s rehabilitation philosophy rests on six principles:

while working, people need to communicate constructively
solidarity, as a tool for learning to give and take
ecological thinking as a necessity for people who have abused their bodies with chemical drugs
the pride of being independent – both as an individual and a cooperative
quality consciousness as opposed to the ‘junkie mentality’ of the life of a drug addict
living and working with the partners - who have been successful in creating a drug-free life at Basta - serves as a model for newcomers

Results

From an economic point of view, the results are quite promising:

For the first year, the Swedish authorities pay for the stay of most of the apprentices at cooperative. Apart from this, the cooperative is able to support itself. Furthermore, in 2002, 40 percent of the apprentices were not payed for by any public sector institution.
At the beginning of 1994 all income came from sales of rehabilitation places to the public sector. Six years later the ratio between rehabilitation and commercial sales is 60:40. In 2000 the turnover was 11 million Swedish crowns (1.2 million euros).
Partners and apprentices enjoy free boarding and lodging, free medical and dental care, free tobacco and sundries. They have access to newspapers, cultural activities, gym and other sport activities. On top of this, there is a monthly net cash payment between 680 and 7,000 Swedish crowns (73 - 750 euros). The value of all these benefits amounts to an average salary of 14,000 – 20,000 crowns monthly (1,500 - 2,140 euros).

However, the company’s main objective is social: the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Basta’s tool for rehabilitation is enterprise. There seems to be no clear data available on the rehabilitation success rate. However, it is possible to make an educated guess based upon the number of people working at the cooperative over the years. Hundreds of people have been active in the cooperative.

Contact info

Basta Arbetskooperativ
Alec Carlberg (Chairman), tel. +46 8 552 414 07

Project start date

01/10/1994

Links

For more information, please visit the Basta Arbetskooperativ website

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Keywords

Integration of social groups, Quality of life