A completely normal family, with parents living together and older siblings. But something was not right with Stefan Olafsson.
– Already in middle school when I started drinking alcohol, something fell into place. It clicked for me, he says.
He only felt complete when he tried amphetamines.
– It was a super click.
Bottom
When Stefan Olafsson was 28 years old, recently dumped and fired, the realization came: He had serious addiction problems. For the first time he tried to commit suicide. When that failed, he tried syringes for the first time.
– It was like pressing the button to a completely different way of life. I began ten years of homelessness. I slept in doorways and in garbage rooms.
For the first five years, he was newly in love with the drug, he thought it complemented him perfectly. Homelessness gave him a sense of freedom. But in the last five years, those feelings disappeared. Then life became dramatically worse.
Would burglarize – became a hero
During those five years, he made a living by breaking into businesses and shops. It was during such a night at Östermalm that his life turned around.
– An old lady was half-lying in a car. It turned out she had had a stroke so I called the emergency center. I got a hero role. I began to be able to see myself with the eyes that the police looked at me and that she then looked at me – as a good person.
That day Stefan saved Heidi’s life – and she saved him. Because after that meeting, a seed was planted.
Using his background
During his tenth and final prison term, he became drug-free. Today, he has read high school, passed the college entrance examination, became a lawyer and got employment as a criminal lawyer with his idol.
Now he uses his drug addiction background in his job.
– Especially in contact with addicts, it is always a shortcut in the conversation if you yourself have that background. We can take shortcuts in the conversation in a convenient way. I can ask much more direct questions, critical questions.