– There is a dramatic development from alcohol pressure to cocaine pressure, describes Russian Line Bjerkeskaug (18) to TV 2.
She is the Russian president at Norway’s largest upper secondary school, Sandefjord high school, which has around 2,000 students. Together with the principal at the school, she has, prior to this year’s Russian celebration, warned parents about increased cocaine use among Russians.
– RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Line Bjerkeskaug is Russian president at Sandefjord upper secondary. She is concerned that cocaine use has become normalized among Russians. Photo: Private
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– We experience that there is an underreporting of these conditions, says Rector Harald Møller to TV 2.
– When the students themselves express concern, it is important that we raise that concern. This is not information we can sit on alone.
Just before Easter, several health nurses in Ringerike municipality also went out Aftenposten and warned parents that many Russians experience peer pressure to get high.
– Drugs have become so normalized. People no longer react in the same way when others take cocaine at a party, says Russian President Bjerkeskaug, and adds:
– It becomes everyday, and it’s scary because more people think they can also try because many others do.
Applies to all environments
Student council leader Erlend Monstad Lund (19) at Nøtterøy upper secondary school also believes that drugs have become more normal among Russians. He says that especially at large events, parties and Russian releases, there is heavy material in circulation.
– It is not a depressant drug such as hashish, but cocaine, he says to TV 2.
– It is much easier to get drugs than before, where you had to know a guy who knows a guy. Now people send messages on Snapchat and arrange a time where they meet someone who sells. That makes it easy to buy, and even easier to hide, he adds.
– WARNING: Student council leader Erlend Monstad Lund (19) from Nøtterøy upper secondary says it has become much easier for young people to obtain cocaine than before. Photo: Private
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Rector at Nøtterøy upper secondary, Arild Johnsen, supports what Lund says.
– When our student council leader and the students at Nøtterøy say there is a growing problem with drugs, I believe in it, he says when asked by TV 2.
Johnsen says that what is new among the students at the school is that they use cocaine, GHB and ecstasy to a greater extent instead of hashish and marijuana.
– Students who get high think they have full control, but eventually things go badly with truancy and poorer grades. They have control until they no longer have control, and that’s how we notice it, because they do not get drunk at school.
– AGREE: Rector Arild Johnsen at Nøtterøy upper secondary school believes in the students’ explanations about increased use of drugs in the youth environments in the city. Photo: Nøtterøy upper secondary school
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Lund believes the drug pressure is especially great in places with a low age of onset for alcohol.
– When many people start drinking in upper secondary school, they feel pressure to take the party even further in high school, he says.
– COLLABORATION: Principal Arild Johnsen and student council leader Erlend Monstad Lund collaborate to talk to students about the substance abuse problem at school. Photo: Private
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His experiences are shared by Russian President Bjerkeskaug in Sandefjord, who claims that there are no longer only a few who use cocaine.
– It is no longer just vulnerable environments, but a widespread problem among young people. If the rest of the gang engages in cocaine, many feel pressured because they feel they have to do it to join, she says.
Critical of the police
Student council leader Lund, who himself is involved in the drug debate among young people, believes the police do not understand the extent of the problem.
– I think the police do too little, and look in the wrong places. They obtain information about drug trends through seizures at the border and things they hear in criminal circles, he, and refer to a lecture given by the police’s Net Patrol itself during the youth data conference in December.
He believes that many of those who now use drugs are not in criminal circles.
– Very many of the people I know who use these drugs are not in criminal environments, but are ordinary young people. They have many friends, play sports and are good at school, he says.
According to Lund, there were several fellow students who had not turned 18 before Christmas who had easier access to cocaine than alcohol.
– For some it was easier to get a strip of cocaine than a 6-pack of beer because they could not buy alcohol at the store, but knew someone who sold drugs.
– PARTY: The student council leader at Nøtterøy upper secondary school says several young people are experimenting with drugs. Photo: Kyrre Lien / NTB
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– Not only about the solution
TV 2 has been in contact with the South-East police district and presented the criticism from the Russians in their district.
Police do not have statistics that support the claim that more young people use heavy drugs in their district, but say they take the concern seriously.
– We take very seriously what the young people say and report themselves, and it is important information for us and the municipality, says police superintendent Mona Kvistnes in an e-mail to TV 2.
She emphasizes that the police not only have the solution to the challenge, but that they have a number of ways to obtain information and work preventively.
– We try to work preventively to be at the forefront so that we can prevent and deter young people from starting with drugs and committing unwanted actions. This work is not done by the police alone, but together with our partners who are both private and public.
– The majority distances themselves
Other police districts TV 2 has also been in contact with believe that most Norwegian young people distance themselves from illegal drugs.
Eastern police district says that it is demanding to go behind the numbers, but that they have a perception that there is no increase in use among young people in their district.
– The police’s general opinion is that the majority of Norwegian youth distance themselves from drugs, says Julie Krystad and Jan Kevin Brunvoll at the joint unit for prevention, which has special responsibility for the Russians in the district, in an e-mail to TV 2.
– One-sided focus on the fact that this is a problem helps to “normalize” a common perception that young people use drugs, they believe.
– THE POLICE: Julie Krystad and Jan Kevin Brunvoll at the joint unit for prevention in the Eastern police district, have not seen an increased use of drugs among the Russians in their district. Photo: The police in the East
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The organization Blue Cross also rejects that drug use has increased among young people, but says it may be related to two years of coronary restrictions.
– The use of substances such as cannabis has decreased in the last two years, which we think is gratifying. However, several point out that this may be due to the fact that corona measures made access to illegal drugs more difficult, and that the drugs became more expensive, says adviser Marianne Tveraaen in the Blue Cross to TV 2.
She says the use of cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy is low and stable, but that the use is greatest among the younger age groups.
Nevertheless, she emphasizes that Norwegian youth come out very well in the European survey Espad, which has compared their drug use with young people from 35 European countries.
– Can have catastrophic consequences
Greater concern is to be traced to Inger Lise Hansen, who is general secretary of the field’s co-operation body Actis.
– We are concerned after reports we receive that drug use has increased and that there are heavier substances that are used to a greater extent, Hansen says.
– CONCERNED: Secretary General of Actis, Inger Lise Hansen, fears poor drug choices during the Russian era could have serious consequences. Photo: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold / Actis
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The organization has been contacted by several health nurses in Norway in recent years who are concerned about both extravagant partying, testing of drugs and pressing their own and others’ boundaries during the Russian era.
Hansen says the concern applies to all young people, but that the fear is especially great for the drug addict as the russet time for some becomes a gateway to a life of intoxication.
“Studies show that many people try drugs for the first time in the Russian era, and for some it can be the beginning of a long-term problem,” she says.
“Exit” effect
In a survey from FHI in 2019, one in four Russians stated that they had tried drugs in the past year. Just as many regretted something they had done at a Russian event. One in five also stated that they had been so drunk the last 24 hours that they had a blackout – that is, that they could not remember anything from all or part of the time they drank.
– COCAINE: Illustration photo. Customs seizure from Posten’s Østlandsterminal at Lørenskog. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB
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The student council leader at Nøtterøy upper secondary school believes that television successes such as NRK’s ”Exit” have led to a glorification of drugs among young people in recent years.
– This has led to many people getting tunnel vision. They see hard partying, nice cars, pretty ladies, lots of money and cool friends, and it is appealing, especially for boys, Lund explains.
He thinks many do not pick up the darker sides of drugs that also appear, including depression after drug use.
– It appears to be an ideal for many, and at TikTok there are several who make videos that are almost a tribute to this “Exit” culture, he says.
Secretary General Hansen of Actis also believes the pandemic could lead to more people taking the party extra far this year.
– We treat the Russians to a really nice celebration after 13 years of schooling, but we are worried that they will now take back two years of partying after the pandemic. It can have catastrophic consequences. When the exam has also been canceled, the partying can continue well into the summer holidays.
– GROUP PRESSURE: The drug organization Actis warns that peer pressure increases the normalization of drug use. Illustration photo. Photo: Kyrre Lien / NTB
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