Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2018, Page 16

16 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15— 2018
Grandagarður 7, 101 Reykjavík
In the first half of 2018, 29 recorded
deaths in Iceland were likely to be
related to drug overdoses. This is a
heavy increase compared to last year’s
numbers, when 32 people died due to
illicit substance consumption over the
entire year. Ólafur B. Einarsson from
the Directorate Of Health believes there
is a potential drug crisis developing in
the country.
Rise of drug-related
deaths
“There have been 29 deaths that are
probably related to drugs from Janu-
ary to the middle of June this year,”
Ólafur says, “but it remains to be
confirmed whether they are all directly
linked to drugs.” By this, he means that
substances like amphetamine and
cocaine have all been found in samples
from the deceased, though it is unclear
if that was the exact reason for their
death. “There have already been five
cases where cocaine was found, which
is a lot,” Ólafur adds.
The most pressing issue, however,
is the abuse of prescription drugs.
“Compared to other Nordic countries,
Iceland has a 30% higher consump-
tion rate of nervous system medica-
tion like oxycodone,” Ólafur says. This
statistic spurred the Directorate Of
Health to start an online prescrip-
tion database in 2016 for physicians to
prevent people from receiving multi-
ple prescriptions for medication from
different doctors. Similar programs
have been implemented in other West-
ern countries.
Young users
There is another more dangerous
trend present, though. “This year, we
discovered that more young people
consumed a mix of strong opioid anal-
gesics and cannabis or alcohol,” Ólafur
says. Opioids are incredibly addictive
and easy to overdose on. In Iceland,
they are consumed in pill form and also
smoked from Fentanyl patches, which
is considered to be many times more
potent than heroin.
The demographic of drug users have
also shifted. “The average age of drug-
related deaths has been sinking from
50.8 years in 2015 to 45.9 years this year,”
he says. The larg-
est at-risk group
is young men, as
79% of this year’s
deceased are male.
“My guess for the
r e a s o n b e h i n d
this is the current
m u s i c c u l t u re ,
especially regard-
ing hip-hop lyrics,”
Ólafur explains.
For Ólafur, a
first step out of
the crisis would
be for young kids
to know how to
able to have fun
without resort-
ing to taking pills.
“ T h e y h a v e t o
understand that one pill of a certain
type can kill them,” he says. However,
there hasn’t been much of a discussion
about this. “We intend to inform people
more about the dangers,” Ólafur says.
Apparently, there is currently not much
education surrounding drug-abuse in
Icelandic schools.
State of crisis
“In my opinion, the current situa-
tion is a crisis and if the numbers will
continue to rise this year, we will in fact
be very close to the figures of the United
States, proportionally speaking,” Ólafur
says. While there has been roughly one
drug-related death per 10,000 people in
Iceland last year, the U.S. has had to face
one death per 4,500 people.
2008 saw the peak in drug-related
deaths in Iceland, with 34 people dying
from overdoses, yet the number of
deaths in the first half of 2018 indi-
cate that record will soon be surpassed.
Ólafur warns that, “people make the
common mistake to think prescribed
drugs are safe for recreational use,
which they are not.” He’s especially
worried about the youth. “It looks
like these kids really don’t know how
dangerous the pills they have in their
hands are and how dangerous they can
be when they are mixed with other stuff.
You can’t predict how strong they are
when you consume them with alcohol,
you can’t be sure what’s in them or how
they work with other stuff. In my opin-
ion, we have to do more to warn about
the dangers,” he adds.
Mental health
Ólafur points out that there is also an
unusually high number of people who
consume antidepressants in Iceland.
The country has the highest antidepres-
sant consumption rate of any OECD
nation. Moreover, of those who had
died due to drug-overdoses, people
over 60 often had antidepressants
mixed with alcohol in their system.
“Part of the problem is that there is
not much else available
other than medicine
for people with mental
health issues,” Ólafur
explains. According to
him, it has been a work
in progress to increase
other services, such as
therapy.
Failing health
care system
“Overall, there's a lot
more going on than
drug-related deaths,”
Ólafur says. “This is
the darkest part of the
whole picture and there
are hundreds of people
who are admitted to
the hospitals every year due to drug
overuse. There have been questions
about the healthcare system and how
to improve it for several years now.”
It remains to be seen whether this
year’s numbers of drug related deaths
will exceed those of 2008.
The Icelandic
Opioid Crisis
Iceland approaching U.S. numbers in
drug-related deaths
?
“If the numbers
will continue to
rise this year, we
will in fact be
very close to the
figures of the
United States,
proportionally
speaking”
Words:
Noemi Ehrat
Photo:
Art Bicnick