Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.01.2006, Side 6
Reynir Traustason started his career as a journal-
ist in 1999 by contributing articles to the daily
DV while working as the captain of a trawler in
the West Fjörds, eventually becoming that news-
paper’s news editor. After taking over the news
desk at Fréttablaðið in 2002, he went back to
DV for a short time before becoming the editor of
Mannlíf, a monthly lifestyle magazine, in 2004.
Traustason has most recently gained attention
for his latest book, Skuggabörn (Children of the
Shadows), an investigative work that examines
Iceland’s drug culture from within. The research
and writing of the book became the subject of a
documentary of the same name, which was aired
on RÚV last month.
/// What inspired you to do investigative re-
porting on the Icelandic drug culture?
– In the beginning, Páll Bragi Kristjánsson,
manager of Adult Children of Alcoholics, got
in touch with me and asked if I would like to
write about these things. I thought the drug
culture was too far away from me, so I thought
it over. I have five children of my own, the
youngest one is nine. And I looked at this lit-
tle girl and thought, ‘Why not? Why not go
down and see these people and try to find out
why they act this way?’ With this book, I was
trying to make a picture of this drug world. I
wasn’t trying to heal anything or anything like
that, I just wanted to show people, this is the
way it looks. There’s a lot of death and a lot of
sad stories. I was thinking if young people are
reading this and their parents were reading it,
too, they would have something to talk about.
Because if you’re going to fix those things, you
have to know them. There’s one case where a
young girl, who was a champion at glíma [Ice-
landic wrestling], was showing a lot of promise
but now, at the age of 20, she’s been in [the
treatment centre] Vogur twenty times.
/// That’s a pretty dramatic change. Did you
see any reasons for such a change in some
young people, but not others?
– I was trying to see, when I wrote this book,
why some kids would make such a dramatic
change, and I haven’t got the answers. No one
has the answers. I just know how her story is.
A lot of kids who had ADHD were prone to
take drugs. It’s the same thing with alcohol or
drugs. They say that 15% of people are prone
to alcoholism. If you’re lucky, you fall into that
85%, and you can have a drink and stop when
you like. But 15%, when they start their first
drink or their first drug, they’re hooked. They
can’t live without it. But some people can use
it, and have control of it. That’s part of the
problem, because someone who can’t handle
it looks at them and says, “Well, that one can
do it.”
/// Being a semi-remote island, I would think
it’s difficult to bring drugs into Iceland.
– It’s just wide open. All the harbours, all
around the country, are wide open. The drugs
are not usually brought over in the hold of the
ship. People sending drugs over to Iceland
from countries like Germany or England will
have divers attach the drugs to the bottom of
the ship. And then these ships come to Ice-
land, to some little villages in the north and the
west. And checking all the ships would take
a lot of police and a lot of money, and a dog
almost never goes on board a ship.
Look, I was a captain on a trawler. I know
how these things work. You come back with
the alcohol that you bought abroad, and two
guys come on board asking if you’ve got any
alcohol. You leave two or three bottles under
the bed for them to find, and you say, “Here,
just take this,” and everybody knows what’s go-
ing on - the customs officials are going to have
a good time at home. They take a little look
around, say, “OK everything is fine here,” and
leave. Meanwhile, we’ve got 20 cases of alcohol
in the toilet.
/// What efforts has the government made in
combating the problem?
– In 2000, the Progressive Party said, ‘We are
going to make Iceland drug-free by 2002.’ But
look at this [opens an issue of Mannlíf]: in
1995, about 200 people checked in to Vogur
for cannabis. In 2004, nearly 600. Ampheta-
mines: 1995, about ten people. 220 people
in 2004. Cocaine: seven people in 1995. 124
people in 2004. Ecstasy: in 1995, four people.
In 2004, 104 people. You can see where this is
going.
/// What do you account for the increase?
– I really don’t know. There are young people
who are just careless. They say, ‘It’s OK to do
this once or twice. And if we run into some
trouble, we can just go to Vogur and it will be
fixed.’ And that’s why you have to connect with
your kids, and you have to talk about it.
/// What do you think can be done to stem
the increase in drug use?
– I don’t know. A lot of volunteers are fight-
ing against this, but somehow the problem is
growing bigger and bigger. They’re talking
about putting 60 billion [ISK, a little less than
one billion USD] into a high-tech hospital,
while my friend, [Skuggabörn documentary
director] Lýður Árnason, who is also a doctor,
said, “This is crazy. They should be giving that
money to whatever volunteer groups are doing
something positive.” I don’t think it’s enough
to say, “In two years, we will clean Iceland of
drugs,” You can’t do that. First, you have to
know the problem, to know what you’re deal-
ing with. But if I had told people after having
seen all I’ve seen in the drug world over two
years, I have the solution, I would be lying.
But you have to take a closer look at it, and
you have to put money into it, to try and find
a way. You’re not going to promise to fix the
problem; you’re just going to promise to fight
the problem.
/// In the course of your research, what sur-
prised you most?
– How close this all is. There was one former
drug dealer who had me meet him at Perlan.
He told me that this was one of his favourite
places to sell, because it was the last place you
would expect. It’s so close to us. I met one of
the biggest drug dealers in Iceland. If he calls
you and says his name, you have to pay him
immediately. He’s almost at the top of the
pyramid. There’s only one guy above him. He
heard I was writing this book, got in touch
with me, and asked me to meet him behind the
Reykjavík skating rink. I didn’t know what he
looked like. When he came up to me and told
me his name, I was surprised. He looked like
a carpenter, like someone who could be living
next door to me. You couldn’t tell he was this
person who breaks arms and legs. He looked
just like a regular guy, and is living in one of
the best neighbourhoods in Iceland, living next
door to some Icelandic television star and some
well-known businessman.
/// Did he say why he got in touch with you?
– I don’t know why he did. He said, “I know
about this [drug] problem in this country, and
I know I should quit.” He said that he didn’t
want his kid growing up in drugs. But he says
the same thing everyone else does - if I’m not
doing it, someone else will.
/// After seeing all the types of treatment
available in this country, what would you rec-
ommend someone do if they think they have a
drug problem?
– The only hope is to check yourself in to
Vogur immediately. But these people are al-
ways surprising me. I knew this one guy who
went into Vogur and was clean for ten months.
And then he relapsed, and he told me it was
because he was getting depressed. I don’t know
why, but some people just relapse again and
again.
/// What steps do you think parents should
take to keep their children away from drugs?
– Talk to them. They have to make clear what
the price is. They have to get close to them,
not in a controlling sense, but in a way that you
would talk to your friend. And I think the way
to stop this is to try to bring the stories you
know over to your kids now.
The Drug Trade is Wide Open
An interview with Skuggabörn author Reynir Traustason
by Paul F. Nikolov
“It’s just wide open.
All the harbours, all
around the coun-
try, are wide open.”
Reynir Traustason
on the drug trade in
Iceland.
“He looked like a
carpenter, like some-
one who could be
living next door to
me. You couldn’t tell
he was this person
who breaks arms
and legs.” Reynir
Traustason describ-
ing the second larg-
est drug trafficker in
Iceland.
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