Pella studied law – and abused heroin

Pella Berglund became fascinated by drugs in connection with a school project in biology. Her addiction then started already in her teens. The first time she tried cannabis, she was 13 years old.

– I was looking for a feeling. I had feelings of emptiness and restlessness, so for me it wasn’t so much about suppressing anxiety as escaping the restlessness, says Pella Berglund.

At her first direct encounter with drugs, Pella did not stand out from others. Those she hung out with also started drinking and smoking cannabis early. Back then it was more about having fun, but for Pella it would get worse. In high school, she tried tramadol for the first time, and she was hooked.

– Now in retrospect it is explained by the fact that I was very restless and I climbed the walls well. The tramadol made it possible to just relax and that it was okay to just do nothing, she says.

Today, Pella has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, which she believes explains a lot. When she started tramadol, addiction developed. At the age of 22, she started using heroin.

– It sounds like a big step, but it’s not that different. Then it just got worse and worse, as it often does.

Abused heroin during his studies

When Pella started using heroin, the addiction became increasingly heavy. Her condition worsened and she was placed in social vulnerability. At the same time as the addiction became heavier, she maintained her studies at the university.

– I managed to maintain it at some level until the third year of the law program. I got through it until I couldn’t do it anymore, she says.

The abuse was constant, without a break. Pella describes it as becoming the new normal for her. The physical pain was hard to deal with, and the addiction overshadowed everything.

– It’s really a squirrel’s wheel, you just go out and buy drugs and take drugs and arrange money for drugs.

In 2021, the turn will come. Pella is convicted of drug offenses and receives two months in prison. The sentence will be decisive for her to finally get out of the addiction.

Drug abuse increasingly common among young people

Drug use is becoming increasingly common among young people in Sweden, according to CAN, the Central Association for Alcohol and Narcotics Information. In their 2023 survey, seven percent of ninth graders reported using drugs at some point. The same figure for high school students was 15 percent. Today, Swedish ninth-graders have used drugs to twice the extent of 30 years ago.

In Stockholm there is an emergency department for young people who use drugs and alcohol. There, doctors notice an increase in heavier drugs and different preparations.

– We also see that complexity is increasing, i.e. co-morbidity with other diagnoses. For example, ADHD, depression and other psychiatric conditions, says Markus Takanen, specialist doctor at the Addiction Center in Stockholm.

Markus Takanen mainly meets adult patients in his work. They often feel very unwell. Those who come to him are close to rock bottom or very desperate for help. What they all have in common is how difficult it is to get out of addiction.

– Insanely tough and it’s often very tough just to come help, he says.

Pella’s dreams for the future

When Pella Berglund finally got out of her addiction, she had reached a limit where she no longer had any drug cravings. She was very tired of it. The feeling then was that “I might be able to do this, I just have to break the habit”.

– I knew that it might not be very easy, but that it was not impossible.

When she is arrested and later convicted, the turning point comes. She was caught when she was most receptive to help. By then she had been desperately seeking help for two years.

– You have to find it yourself, the strength or get tired of it. I think the hardest thing is maybe timing that window to get support and help, says Pella.

Today, Pella has been drug-free for three years. She studies both law and psychology, and dreams of working with addiction issues in the future. She wants to use her own experiences to help others.

– I want to try to make as much difference as possible, she says.