iFinnmark: Per Mathis Oskal (64) is a Sami MP for the Labor Party and a reindeer owner. Together with his wife, he travels and sells the family’s reindeer meat products under the brand name Hjerttind Rein. On the square in Harstad during the farmers’ market at the end of October, Oskal had a rather peculiar experience. iFinnmark has heard of it and we ask if Oskal will tell the story to our readers.
And he:
Coffee cake
– We have a sideways open shopping cart. We had lined up there, and then I saw that there were muffins on the side. I thought the wife had bought them in the square. And she thought she bought them. So I drank my mother’s coffee and ate one like this, she says.
– Half an hour passed, then I got “sick” and had to lie down in the camper. Finally we went home and I was sent by ambulance to Tromsø.
Oskal and his family are from Andsvatn near Sørreisa in Troms, about two hours’ drive from the university hospital.
– The doctors in Tromsø found nothing and thought I had some kind of stroke. It was quite serious when it was on and we didn’t show anything. I was discharged the next day because they found nothing, she says.
But it happened more, because the cakes were still included in the cargo. Oskal says:
– The following weekend we went to a fair in Sørreisa. And I had a morning coffee there and ate one like that again. And he got sick and was sent to the emergency room in Finnsnes, and then by helicopter to Tromsø. But they found nothing. Now I have been investigated both “forward and forward”. Meanwhile, my wife has invited one of our children to help out at the Sørreisa fair. The wife received a message here in Tromsø that he too had fallen ill, and it turned out that he too had eaten the same cakes.
Cannabis
Cannabis is a collective term for all products that can be produced from the cannabis plant:
- Marijuana is made from loose or pressed plant material and usually contains a combination of dried leaves, stems, and seeds or flowering tops.
- Hashish is made from the plant sap/resin from the flowering buds pressed together with other parts of the plant material into lumps, slabs or “cakes”.
- Cannabis oil is a vegetable oil produced through a chemical process. The color is usually dark green, orange-yellow or brownish.
- All cannabis products contain the substance THC, which is the main intoxicant.
- The most common way cannabis is consumed is through smoking. The smoke often produces a characteristic sweet smell. Cannabis products can also be inhaled as a vapor (vapourized), eaten, added to various foods, soft drinks or chewing gum, or drunk as a tea. Cannabis can also be consumed using e-cigarettes or applied to the skin in the form of body lotion.
He is the father of cannabislig?
The cannabis market and products are changing dramatically. Hashish and marijuana have become much stronger drugs than before because the content of the intoxicating active substance THC has increased. In 2010, seized hash contained just under 10% THC. In the first half of 2019, KRIPOS reports that the average is 31%. In many ways it is a changed drug that we are dealing with. It is well documented that a higher THC content results in greater intoxication and possibly also an increased risk of health damage.
The effects of cannabis vary greatly and depend on both the THC content and who the user is, as well as the environment and expectations of intoxication. There is also a difference between the acute and long-term consequences of cannabis use.
A young person whose brain is still developing (under 25) is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of cannabis.
Acute effects of cannabis
When smoking, the intoxicating effect can occur after a few minutes and last from 1 to 4 hours. Physical and psychological characteristics can be:
- Increased heart rate
- Red eyes
- Dry mouth
- Sudden feeling of hunger (gluttonous)
- Changed emotional and sensory impressions of smell, color, and sound
- Some experience discomfort with nausea and dizziness
- The feeling that the heart is beating very fast
- High mental activity
- Laughter and talkativeness
- Increased introversion or extroversion (depending on the user’s personality)
- Feeling of relaxation and well-being
You may have problems with coordination, concentration and ability to react up to 24 hours after ingestion.
The risk of acute health consequences of cannabis use, such as acute psychosis, increases with the consumption of high doses of THC and with the use of synthetic cannabis.
The harmful effects can be intensified if cannabis is used together with other drugs, medicines or alcohol.
After consuming cannabis, one may experience temporary hallucinations (deception of the senses) and delusions – paranoia. These are psychotic symptoms that can range from mild symptoms that last anywhere from a few minutes to hours, to more severe episodes in which many symptoms occur at the same time. Symptoms can last from a few days to more than a week. If you use cannabis often, your risk of such symptoms will increase. In some cases of drug-induced psychosis, treatment may be required during hospitalization.
How long can cannabis be found in the body?
A blood test can detect THC up to a day after a single intake, but up to several days after regular long-term use. THC can also be detected with urine samples, usually up to a week after a single intake. If you smoke daily and have done so for a long time, it can take up to 6-10 weeks after your last use before cannabis use can no longer be detected by a urine test.
Long-term effects of cannabis use
A high consumption of cannabis in some cases will lead to a weakening of cognitive functions such as memory, the ability to concentrate and the ability to learn.
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the impaired cognition caused by cannabis use can likely be reversed in adult users, but it is more uncertain whether this occurs in young people whose brains are still developing and if they consume cannabis often. The WHO therefore warns in particular against the use of cannabis by persons under the age of 25.
Cannabis is addictive. If you start using cannabis at a young age, your risk of becoming addicted is higher. In 2019, the number of people seeking treatment for cannabis addiction increased by more than 40% since 2010.
(Source: Health Norway)
This made it easier to find the cause of acute hospitalizations – pies:
– So we started to suspect it was them. We had samples taken from me in Tromsø and from him to Finnsnes. It probably took a week and a half or something like that, then the result came. The answer was that they were hash pies, says Oskal.
Sticks to reindeer meat
Then the police intervened.
– I had to report it here. And as I told the police officer: it was good that it was just that, and nothing more serious. Because it was quite dramatic when it was on, and especially for his wife who was there, he says.
– I’m not really sure where those cakes came from. They were in the carriage. But we have been to the fairs every weekend before Harstad, both in Sortland, Sætermoen and Tromsø. My son got sick too, but he only ended up in the emergency room and wasn’t hospitalized. He was terrifying, especially until we knew what the cause was, he says.
In retrospect, Per Mathis Oskal also sees the somewhat comic side of the situation.
– It’s almost like a story you can read in Donald Duck. And the cakes were blue. They were completely blue, and this puzzled me a bit, but I thought the wife had bought them in the square. There are many people selling cakes and other things at the farmer’s market. The police closed the case, it was difficult to find out where they came from since we already ate all the cakes, concludes Oskal.
– You could still have a merry Christmas, and hopefully with healthy food!
– Yes please. It will be reindeer meat! laughs Per Mathis Oskal.
Read more cases from iFinnmark here.
