after the “eyewitness” interview, a few hundred drug addicts contacted me

“This ‘eyewitness’ interview was the result of a decision made several months earlier,” Avandi said, commenting on the program aired earlier this year, in which he admitted to drug addiction.

“I was sure that it was necessary to do so. The decision to tell everything was made because the life of a drug addict in Estonia is perhaps more complicated than elsewhere. We tend to stigmatize drug addicts. There is a stigma because drugs are illegal. This too it was a foreign topic to us. Alcoholism is much more familiar to us. We all know what alcohol does to a person. But the topic of drugs scares people.”

Furthermore, Avandi admitted that after the interview he was contacted by a few hundred drug addicts who asked him how he got help. “So I tried to help them as much as I could.”

Avandi added that a drug police officer also contacted him after the interview. “We communicate quite often now. He still asks me my opinion on how drug policy should be pursued. I’m not an opinion leader in this area either, but I’ve been there on the other side and I know some things.”

More information in the Pealinn newspaper.

2023-12-12 16:15:00
after-the-eyewitness-interview-a-few-hundred-drug-addicts-contacted-me