– Many people buy it. Many young people come in and want to try. That’s according to pharmacist André Samari at Apotek 1 at Majorstuen in Oslo. In the last decade, the sale of drugs against impotence has increased by almost 160 per cent. Over 2.5 times as many boxes were sold in 2023 as in 2014. And the trend is far from being reversed. – It is absolutely in the wind, says Samari. Samari is a pharmacist and sells over-the-counter Viagra. He says he has noticed that there are more young men who want to try it. Photo: Synne Sørenes / news Simple and accessible Recently, SVT wrote about the use of male enhancement pills among young men in Sweden had increased sharply in recent years. In Norway, it is possible to buy Viagra without a prescription, and there is therefore not the same overview of the age of those who buy the pills in this country. Doctor in Sex and Society, Simon Ertzeid, believes there is no reason to believe that Norway is particularly different from its neighbours. Simon Ertzeid is a doctor and works at Sex og Samfunn, Norway’s largest center for sexual and reproductive health and courts. Photo: Sex and society – For some, it may be a security to have it in the bedside drawer. As insurance, if things don’t go as planned and you don’t get an erection, he says. Taboo to talk about it seriously Out on Oslo’s streets, there were few who wanted to talk to news’s lucky broadcaster about potency, erection and Viagra use. Colleagues William Weng and Mads Reis think it’s because it’s taboo to admit that you have to take pills to perform sexually. – It may well be that there are many people who buy it, but who do not tell about it. It can perhaps be experienced as embarrassing that one has to get help, says Reis. Weng and Reis feel comfortable talking to each other if they have a bad sexual experience, but that it often comes off as a bit more nonsense than serious. Photo: Synne Sørenes / news Weng says there is often a lot of pressure to perform sexually, and that many people can become stressed if you are not at your best one evening. He himself has only bought Viagra once, “on a whim” to fool a friend on a trip to Croatia in 2018, he says. Do you use Viagra or similar? Yes, I always have it in the drawer No, I don’t need it Have tried, but don’t use regularly Show results Performance pressure Doctor Ertzeid says there are few young men who actually need to use Viagra or the like. Like Weng and Reis, he says that many young men feel pressure to perform. Due to the lack of focus on pleasure in sex education, there are many who do what they think is right, rather than feeling what feels good, he says. At the end of 2019, it became legal to buy Viagra without a prescription in Norway. Photo: Synne Sørenes / news – Expectations are often shaped by what you see and read on social media or online newspapers. There is talk of body count and orgasm gap, and that one must always have an erection. Can get a long-lasting erection Ertzeid says it is actually completely normal not to get an erection once in a while. – The main rule is that if you get an erection by yourself in the morning, there is usually nothing to prevent you from getting an erection anyway, he explains. The doctor says that it is not particularly dangerous to take Viagra or the like, if you are young and healthy. – But it costs a lot, and for many it is unnecessary, he says. In addition, one may experience a drop in blood pressure or become dizzy. – Then you can get priapism. It is an erection that lasts longer than four hours and can be painful. Then you can end up in the emergency room, he says. At Apotek 1 in Majorstuen, pharmacist Samari says that those who wish to buy over-the-counter Viagra must answer several questions about their health before they can buy it. – The questions mainly concern blood pressure and health in general, to ensure that you do not have underlying diseases that may be associated with risk, he says. Published 26.06.2024, at 17.39
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Never sold more erection pills in Norway: – Young people use it as insurance
