Cannabis was the first drug Vilda started with. She was then 11 years old. When she was then offered a free map of Tramadol as a 13-year-old, it went fast.
– It’s like the world’s shortest centimeter. I never thought I would become addicted to drugs, says Vilda.
When Vilda tells about the drugs she has taken, the list becomes long: cannabis, tramadol, ecstasy, jack, cocaine, LSD, lyrica, “blue”, antipsychotic drugs, someone else’s ADHD medication. Sometimes she buys drugs for her pocket money, sometimes she buys “chalk”, but she is also offered drugs. Sometimes with sex as a counterclaim.
When Vilda tells about her fight against drugs, it is a dark picture where the right help from the authorities such as social services and BUP takes a long time with investigations and processing times, visits that Vilda does not think give anything.
Mini-Maria is a youth clinic for young people with drug problems and is located in Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm. Alexander Holmstedt, psychiatric nurse at Mini-Maria in Malmö shares the picture Vilda gives.
– We have clearly seen that once young people cross the border from cannabis to Tramadol, there is a much greater risk of quickly ending up in a mixed addiction. What we have also seen is that previous working methods are insufficient and completely different working methods are required for this group who take Tramadol and mix the drugs.
Tramadol, the analgesic opioid drug, has increased exponentially over the past ten years. In 2019, close to one million tablets were seized. For many young people, Tramadol is the way into a deep mixed addiction and even death. In 2019, 126 young people between the ages of 15-29 died of overdoses.
– If we do nothing now, we will have a larger group of opioid and benzo (benzodipiazine) addicts than we have seen before, says Alexander Holmstedt who initiated the Tramadol project, a survey and research study on Tramadol among young people in Sweden.
Reporter: Ulrika Nandra
Producers: Sofia Kottorp and Martin Jönsson
Final mix: Elvira Björnfot
The program is made in 2020
Source: ICELAND NEWS