Inside Denmark's opioid crisis: Teens as young as 12 hooked on tramadol, 'oxy' and other painkillers

When Marcus tried "oxy" - brief for oxycodone - for the primary time at age 15, he was hooked by the sensation of euphoria it introduced him.

4 years later, he was deep in habit. He was intoxicated whether or not he was at college speaking to his academics, or taking part in video video games along with his mates.

Oxycodone is a sort of opioid, a bunch of gear extracted from the opium poppy that features heroin and morphine.

These are usually prescribed as robust painkillers, however their soothing impact and the non permanent however intense rush of well-being they create can rapidly trigger habit.

As a consequence of their robust sedating impact, they will additionally considerably decelerate respiration and trigger suffocation.

When Marcus couldn’t get the drugs, he skilled withdrawal signs resembling abdomen ache and uncontrollable shaking.

"It was actually insufferable. I felt actually unhealthy and could not consider anything," he stated.

Due to the assist of his trainer and mates, the 19-year-old is now going by habit remedies.

Marcus is actually not the one teen in Denmark to get caught within the quicksand of opioids.

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The extra you're taking of it, the larger the issue once you need to cease or cannot pay money for it. It causes nervousness and restlessness - most of the stuff you took it for within the first place.

Torben Vangsted

Dependancy guide, Odense Drug Centre

Specialists say they're seeing extra younger folks throughout the nation taking painkillers and creating an habit.

“That is severe,” stated Christina Ekmann, a Danish habit therapy specialist at a youth habit centre within the city of Greve, southwest of Copenhagen.

She stated six of the 20 teenagers enrolled within the facility had been there due to their habit to opioid painkillers, particularly tramadol.

"To illustrate they've 4 mates, then out of the blue we're as much as 20-30 younger folks taking them. And that is simply those we find out about," Ekmann stated in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2.

Based on Danish reviews final yr, the issue was even prevalent amongst kids as younger as 12 within the nation’s western municipalities.

They purchase opioid drugs both instantly on the road, or by social media resembling Snapchat and Tiktok.

Dealing with teenage nervousness

Specialists say extra youths in Denmark are abusing opioids as a result of they take the drugs each to get excessive and to deal with nervousness.

“Numerous research point out that many younger persons are sad, are underneath stress and don't really feel adequate. For a few of them, it could actually soothe these emotions,” Torben Vangsted, an habit guide on the Odense Drug Centre, informed TV 2.

Specialists imagine that what has helped make opioids so fashionable is that younger Danes don't think about them as harmful medicine, however quite as medication one can get from a health care provider.

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Maybe you’re struggling to maintain up with college, possibly you name in sick. Unexpectedly, you find yourself in a spot the place you do not need to be.

Per Bjørn Føge Jensen

Senior physician at Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet

These may be "good ladies" you wouldn’t suspect would ever take medicine, and who themselves really feel that taking drugs doesn’t make them addicts, stated Ekmann.

However consultants warn that tolerance to opioids can come rapidly, which means greater and greater doses are wanted for the medicine to supply the identical impact.

"The extra you're taking of it, the larger the issue once you need to cease or cannot pay money for it. It causes nervousness and restlessness - most of the stuff you took it for within the first place," stated Vangsted.

Marcus, who hopes his story may help at the very least one particular person with drug habit to hunt assist, agrees.

"I used to be asleep a lot of the day as a result of it was calming me down a lot, and if I wasn’t mendacity down intoxicated, I used to be having withdrawal signs," he stated.

"It’s not simply enjoyable and video games, it’s a significantly addictive drug, and it could actually actually damage your life in a short time – financially, and, yeah, additionally bodily".

Specialists are actually urging dad and mom to pay extra consideration to their kids in the event that they present uncommon behaviour.

"It’s usually tough to focus, and it additionally signifies that you suddenly overlook appointments," stated Per Bjørn Føge Jensen, a senior physician at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen’s largest public hospital.

"Maybe you’re struggling to maintain up with college, possibly you name in sick. Unexpectedly, you find yourself in a spot the place you do not need to be".

For extra on this story, watch the video within the media participant above.