– I advise people not to seek out this place here. Because if you’re not a drug addict, you’ll become a drug addict, says Bjørn Terje Hansen. The 55-year-old knows what he’s talking about. For a number of years, he has been hanging around the clock in the area around Storgata in Oslo. – Everyone who sells gives a shit if it’s the first time. They are helpful. Once you’ve tried it once, it’s done. Then it’s too late. The drug environment in Storgata/Brugata is the largest open meeting place for buying, selling and using illegal drugs in Oslo. The police are often present. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / NRKR The drug environment in Storgata/Brugata is the largest open meeting place for buying, selling and using illegal drugs in Oslo. The police are often present. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Bjørn Terje started getting high as a 10-year-old at home in Vålerenga. He has 35 years behind him on the heroin drive. At an exhibition When he hung out with his gang in Storgata, he felt terribly lonely. And a bit on display. – You feel really small and insignificant. People look at you badly. You are not treated like people. He believes people forget that drug addicts are people too. – It’s just that we have been dealt a bad card. We’ve had bad luck. Last year, Bjørn Terje’s life took an abrupt turn. He was dying. – Then I was really scared for once. He ended up in hospital. In Storgata, illegal drugs are openly bought and sold. Here, a bag of amphetamines has changed hands. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / NRKI Storgata is where illegal drugs are openly bought and sold. Here, a bag of amphetamines has changed hands. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Since 2004, the Outdoor Section in Oslo municipality has counted drug users in the large open drug environments in Oslo during the summer. Both during the day and evening. The aim is to follow the development and extent of the environments. Bjørn Terje is not included in this year’s count. Four open drug scenes Today there are four open drug scenes in the center of Oslo. This is where illegal drugs are bought, sold and used. Storgata/Brugata The environment here mostly consists of well-grown men. Many of those who are here come from outside the city. The counts show an increase from last year. This may be because construction work in Storgata has ended. Vaterland The sellers are mostly young men with a minority background. The buyers often leave quickly after a transaction. It is also a gathering place for adult men who use drugs. The counts show a decrease from last year. This may be due to an effort from the district. UrtegataMiljøet is a low-threshold service for drug addicts. In the main, it is well-grown men and some women who stay here during the day. The counts show a slight reduction from last year. The lower part of the Akerselva user group here is composed. Young people and adults with a minority background. Many are connected to the communities in Urtegata and Storgata/Brugata. The counts show a slight increase from last year. All these open drug environments are located in or close to one and the same district. District Old Oslo. The top may have been reached The air is autumn scrap. Wind is sour. Inger Kenubish Lineikro and Raymond Johansen Ndure from the Outdoor Section are in place outside a Kiwi shop in Storgata. The two outreach workers from the Outdoor Section quickly make contact with drug addicts who hang out in Storgata. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news The two outreach workers from the Outdoor Section quickly make contact with drug addicts who hang out in Storgata. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news It doesn’t take many seconds before Inger is offered drugs. – For people who do not know us, it may be that we are mistaken for the police, that we have something to offer in the form of drugs or that we want to buy. After all, we go dressed normally, says Raymond Johansen Ndure. In the months of June, July and August, there were an average of 136.9 people in the open drug environments. It is roughly the same as last year, but lower than in the peak year of 2020. The Vaterlandsmiljø mainly consists of young men with a minority background. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / NRKVaterlandsmiljøet mainly consists of young men with a minority background. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news – It may look like we reached the peak in 2020 and that we may be on the way to a leveling off. Or that it might and hopefully will go down a bit in numbers going forward, says Børge Erdal in the Outdoor Section. He emphasizes that the counts are not research. Nor do they show the overall situation in Oslo. Only the tip of an iceberg. Børge Erdal is head of the Outdoor Section in Oslo municipality. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen / news – Most of the buying, selling and use of illegal drugs takes place in hiding and in places other than central Oslo, says Erdal. Fewer young people The vast majority of the municipality’s outreach workers are over 25 and men. There have been fewer young adults in the last two years. The outdoor section also counts far fewer minors than in the peak year 2019. Decrease in the number of young people On average, the outdoor section met 14 people between the ages of 18 and 24 when they were out and counted in the summer of 2022. In 2020, the number was 19. In the summer of 2019, the outdoor section supported minors 155 times under 18 years. In the summer of 2022, the number was 39. Most of them were in the environment around Vaterland. These are not unique people. A minor may be counted several times. Source: The Outdoor Section Although the number of minors has doubled from last year, the Outdoor Section believes that this is not many. – But for every child we encounter in the most vulnerable environments, which are open drug environments, it is serious, says the leader of the Outdoor Section. When they encounter children, parents, child welfare services and the police are involved. Raymond Johansen Ndure works as an environmental therapist in the Outdoor Section in Oslo municipality. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Raymond Johansen Ndure works as an environmental therapist in the Outdoor Section in Oslo municipality. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Raymond Johansen Ndure believes it is difficult to point to a single reason why they meet fewer young people now than before. – Part of the reason could probably be that more young people and young adults are offered summer jobs. He also mentions the district’s efforts for children and young people and the police’s work against open drug environments. According to the Oslo police, the regular users of drug environments also make a good and important effort. Right as it is, they notify the police about young people who seek out the environment. – This has contributed to them being caught at an early stage, says police superintendent Lasse Saastad at the central unit. Many people want to get away from drugs. The outdoor section is concerned with building trust in those they meet. They investigate what the addicts need help with, follow up and are a link to the rest of the support system. Among other things, the outdoor section can also offer psychological services and a hashish weaning program. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / NRKU The outdoor section can also offer psychological services and a hashish weaning program, among other things. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Most of those they seek out want to get away from drugs. – The majority just want a completely normal life, says Ndure. Long-term work It is a goal to reduce the open drug environments in Oslo. The municipality collaborates with a number of actors to provide good help for drug users in Oslo districts. – Small satellites are being built there to provide low-threshold assistance services closer to where the users live, says Erdal. Everything from health services to the distribution of food and clothing. At Akerselva, a person sits with a homemade bong pipe and smokes Cannabis. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / NRKV At Akerselva, a person sits with a homemade bong pipe and smokes Cannabis. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Experience and research show that it can take time to succeed. – It can take up to 10-20 years to reach the goal of reducing the environments and getting them dispersed. But there are also things that Oslo municipality cannot control. Many come from outside the city to the open drug environments in Oslo, especially the area around Storgata/Brugata. – We are dependent on good low-threshold offers being provided locally, also in other municipalities and nationally. – The future looks bright Bjørn Terje Hansen is back in Storgata for the first time in a year. Stop by to say hello to old friends. – It’s nice to greet them, but I won’t have anything. That time is over, thank God. Photo: Thomas Marthinsen / news Bjørn Terje has been sober for a year. After he was about to die last year, he had to make a choice because of his heart. He has received treatment for drug addiction. Now he is followed up by LAR. His future looks bright. – After the year I have experienced now, I have found out that it works. If you just want it hard enough. He knows that he must stay away from Storgata. – If not, people will drag you back in, you understand. Now he has a meeting with LAR and is on his way home to his new home in Lillestrøm. – I would like to start working. I want to do a lot, but I have to get it arranged for me so that it is possible to get started. And he has a dream. Excited to go to Jamaica. The island state Bob Marley came from. – I’m a bit of a reggae fan. So that’s my biggest dream. I hope I can do it, says Bjørn Terje Hansen with a small laugh.
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Open drug environments in Oslo may have reached their peak – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
