“Jump into the lake,” says the voice in my head. Ida Talberg Herje is 19 years old and at a birthday party with good friends when throwing herself into the cold waves in the Romsdalsfjord seems like the most logical thing in the world. She has just come out of the toilet and seen her boyfriend making out with someone else. The sight causes her to burst into tears. What she has seen and heard is not real, but a hallucination. Ida runs out of the room, determined to take her own life. – It was just as if someone in my head told me that it was the right thing, she says. Ida’s boyfriend comes after and holds her tight. Ida doesn’t understand why she can’t do as she wants. How many people are drugged in Norway? In June, news wrote that there is no record of the extent of doping in this country. Samples sent from abuse reception for analysis in hospital can give an indication. Between 2010 and 2020, they show that substances other than alcohol were found in 16 percent of the samples. But the doctors do not know how many have taken the drugs themselves and how many have been drugged against their will – what health professionals call “inflicted poisoning”. news has found over 2,000 news articles in the Norwegian media with the words: “Doped down on the town”. One of them is about Ida Talberg Herje (21) from Vestnes. Her case was first discussed by TV 2. Ida has always been involved in the addiction and drug debate, and is herself a relative of someone who has had problems with addiction. She had no doubt that she would talk openly about what she experienced at the birthday party that night. – I want those who are able to put something in other people’s drinks to know that you can actually kill someone. That’s what I thought would happen to me, she says. Vestnes, after midnight Inside the party room, people enjoy themselves with pizza, drinks and dancing. But outside, Ida has become someone else. She has faint memories of her boyfriend holding her arms tightly outside the party venue at Vestnes. It’s cold, but all Ida wants is to jump into the lake, as the voice in her head tells her. – It was terrifying. I had zero control over myself, she says. Ida’s boyfriend calls for help as he holds her back. “You must come and get Ida, she is not herself!” he says to Ida’s father. – If he hadn’t been there, I would have jumped into the lake, says Ida. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / news Actually, dying is her worst fear. A few kilometers away, Ida’s father jumps into the car and drives towards the party venue. Friends around her try to distract her until he arrives. But when Ida sees her father’s van coming towards them, she screams and takes off. The danger at the party Many young women think about more than what to wear, what to drink and how to get to a party. Research shows that risk assessment is a natural part of partying and nightlife for women. There may be questions such as: How great is the risk of abuse at this party? Who will look after me if I fall asleep? Who is with me if I get drunk? – It appears as an individual and moral responsibility that girls impose on themselves and other girls. What we are trying to show from our data is the adverse impact it has. It contributes to blame and shame being pushed from the performer to the victim, says Rikke Tokle. She works at the section for youth research at NOVA. They have worked on a study where they have interviewed young people between the ages of 15 and 19 repeatedly over time. The young people were from different parts of Norway. But the notions of rape, according to the research, were the same across county boundaries. – They had a form of mythical content, and there were some fixed things that kept repeating. For example, that one was subjected to rape by a stranger. And that the abuse took place deliberately through force or doping. But the most common abuses that women were subjected to were not as visible in the narratives. Vestnes, night to Sunday Ida feels the panic spreading through her body when her father drives up. In her reality, it is not him who comes, but a rapist who wants to kidnap her. She runs away from the van that brakes suddenly across, in the middle of the road. “It’s only your father, he wants to help you!” say the others. Ida doesn’t believe them. She runs to save herself. – It ended with dad having to jump out of the car and lay me on the ground, says Ida. For her, what happens next is just a hazy flash of images in her head. She doesn’t remember lying there screaming or how she ended up in the front seat between her boyfriend and her father. – I don’t know what I’ve done or where I’ve been. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / news The father drives home. The feverish desire to run towards the sea has disappeared, now Ida just wants to sleep. On the way over a bridge, Ida’s father turns to check on his daughter, who has finally calmed down. Then he discovers that Ida has stopped breathing. Makes women more vulnerable One in four has been exposed to at least one case of sexual violence during their lifetime, according to the NOVA report “Violence and abuse against children and young people” from June 2023. The extent of sexual violence is almost four times as high for girls as for boys. Most people know those who are subjected to sexual violence. It could be a friend, a peer or a lover. – This is not what girls highlight when they talk about what they are afraid of, says Rikke Tokle. She believes the rape narratives create a misconception about what constitutes rape, which increases the vulnerability of those who are subjected to abuse. – There is a mismatch between perceptions and the experiences of the person who is raped. This means that when a woman tells her friend about, for example, a sleep rape carried out by a peer in the social circle, they struggle to understand it as rape. – Such stories of abuse are to a greater extent met with disbelief. It helps maintain shame and shift blame, says Tokle. Not an equal arena Fest is an important social arena for young people – both women and men. But it is not an arena where women and men are completely equal, shows the qualitative study Tokle and his colleagues have carried out. – It breaks with the perception of Norway as an equal society, that such double standards for how young women and men “can” behave in drinking situations are piling up. Women can be discredited as a bit “loose” if they are perceived as sexually forward, or drink too much and don’t take the “responsibility” girls are more often expected to put on themselves, precisely because they are girls, she says. Most at risk are socially vulnerable girls who do not have a strong network of friends around them at parties, according to Tokle. The motorway towards Ålesund hospital A few hours ago, Ida enjoyed herself with good friends at a birthday party. Now she is lying on a narrow stretcher in an ambulance. The blue lights flash in the dark on the way to Ålesund Hospital. The father has revived Ida after pulling her out of the car, laying her on the cold asphalt, and calling 113. Ida does not want to go to the hospital. She just wants to sleep. Ida’s father is told to observe his daughter’s condition throughout the night. Ida feels better and thinks the worst is over. They sit in the living room in the dark. Ida tells her parents stories that don’t quite connect. Then she starts shaking. – My body shook and I was hot. Then foam came out of my mouth and I spat on the floor, says Ida. She struggles to catch her breath. The mother calls the ambulance. – She didn’t dare have me at home when things fluctuated like that, says Ida. The ambulance worker who picked up Ida that evening was released from confidentiality by Ida. She told TV 2 that it was a dramatic meeting: – When we see a young girl who is in such great discomfort and has no control over her own body, while at the same time we know that some poisoning can be serious, it is dramatic. Ida takes a selfie while she is admitted to Ålesund Hospital. Photo: Privat Blood pressure and blood tests are taken at Ålesund Hospital. But the blood tests come back negative for drugs. – They said that so many hours had passed since the party that it had disappeared from my body. The doctors believe that Ida’s symptoms indicate that she has ingested GHB. – It confirmed my suspicion that I had been drugged, she says. – No antidote There is no antidote to GHB. – In the worst case, you can stop breathing and die. It is one of the things we fear the most, says Aase Grebstad. She is a senior physician and specialist in drug and addiction medicine at Ålesund treatment centre. Grebstad explains that the distance between a user dose and a toxic dose of GHB is very short. – You depend on someone to look after you until the ambulance arrives, she says. – Do you think people who use GHB to drug others are aware that they can kill someone? – I think people think that it won’t happen to them, or that they are able to dose a user dose of GHB. There is a disclaimer. According to the senior doctor, large doses of GHB can also cause symptoms such as hallucinations, varying levels of consciousness, convulsions, confusion, lethargy, reduced pulse and reduced breathing rate. Some may end up in a coma. – Usually, GHB is not the only thing in the body. Those who are drugged have often already drunk alcohol, which also has a dampening effect on the brain. Then there is an even greater risk of being poisoned. Easy to fool in a glass How the human body reacts to GHB is linked to several things, including genetics, weight, gender, medications you are taking, the strength of the substance, other drugs you have ingested and your daily routine. – The smaller you are, the less you can tolerate. GHB is easy to fool in a glass because it has no colour, no smell and very little taste. The point is to make a person so numb that he or she cannot resist. GHB leaves the blood very quickly and is therefore difficult to detect in blood tests. GHB can be detected for up to 6 hours in blood and 12 hours in urine. Unlike, for example, cannabis, which can be detected in urine samples for up to 3 months with long-term, high consumption. The superintendent advises anyone who suspects that someone has overdosed on GHB to call 113 and check their pulse and breathing. If the person is breathing, the advice is to place the person in a stable side position, if not: Start cardiopulmonary resuscitation. About GHB GHB is a centrally depressant drug that is illegal. Illegally produced products can contain different amounts of GHB, and there can be little difference between doses that produce intoxication and that cause unconsciousness. GHB is most often sold in liquid form. GHB is invisible and odorless when mixed into drinks. Has a mild salty taste that is difficult to detect. The risk of overdose is high because there is little margin between a drug dose and a dose that leads to sleep or coma. Ingestion of GHB can also lead to dizziness, headache, vomiting, muscle weakness, confusion, lack of judgment and fatigue. In more severe cases, delusions, convulsions, restricted breathing, unconsciousness and death may occur. Has been used in cases of abuse and is also known as a “date rape drug”. Other “rape drugs” are rohypnol and ketamine. GHB is quickly absorbed into the body and excreted within a few hours. The substance can usually be detected in the blood a few hours after the end of ingestion, and up to approx. 12 hours in urine. Source: Folkehelseinstituttet, Rusopplysninga and Rusinfo Always afraid of rape Ida has thought a lot about what could have happened if she hadn’t had her friends and boyfriend around her that night. – I have always been afraid of rape. I can’t handle the fact that people can’t take a no for a no. I have to be in control of my own body, so it’s always been a fear. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / news Ida has thought a lot about what happened at the birthday party. She thinks someone must have put something in her glass as she stood outside the bathroom with a drink in her hand. – Then I turned away for a while. But what has scared her the most is the thought that it could happen in Vestnes. – For me, it has always been small and safe. A place where everyone knows everyone. Now I can’t trust my closest ones anyway. It took a long time before Ida felt safe enough to go to parties with her friends again. At first she was very afraid that the same thing would happen again. The whole time she’s out, she feels how her body feels, alert for something not right. She takes the drink with her wherever she goes. Tell me! Do you have any thoughts to share after reading this case? Or do you have tips for other things we should look at? Over the past year, news has examined the social problem of rape to shed light on the consequences it has for us as individuals and society. This case is part of this project. In the past we have published these cases: We will publish more cases on this topic in the future. Do you have input, tips or other information we should know about? Send a message to the email address below. I can also be reached on Signal, an encrypted app you can download on your mobile. My number there is 93894283.
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The birthday party was a near-death experience for Ida – Documentary
