Icelandic woman slept in a garbage dumpster next to a rat and her young

Magdalena Sigurðardóttir had spent three nights in a garbage dumpster next to a rat and her young when she realised she had hit rock botton. She had been battling alcohol and drug addiction for fourteen years and had lost everything. 

Sigurðardóttir is interviewed by today's Morgunblaðið. She was able to go to rehab at Hlaðgerðarkot where she stayed for 6 months and today she works as a counsellor for people with drug problems helping out women like herself. 

"The people who have had the most success in beating their addcition are those who have nothing left, just like I did at the time. I have been counselling women who have been in really deep and who have even been to prison and that everyone had given up on. I have also counselled women who have been in relationships with dangerous criminals who have found themselves in degrading situations and are just broken. They have a hard time forgiving themselves."

Sigurðardóttir adds that the situation on the Reykjavik streets is much harsher than it used to be. "There are lots of stimulant substances, some really dangerous ones that kill people in circulation  and the drug world is a really harsh one, there's lots of crime and prostitution involved." She adds that drugs are easy to come by in Iceland, they flow into the country by air and by sea. 

"The cannabis today is so mixed with other stuff that kids today are frying their brains. I see a lot of the kids in the mental ward at the hospital, some of them have ended up in psychosis from smoking cannabis. It's an awful substance and people close their eyes to its dangers. It's so easy to close your eyes to the dangers of cannabis because it's so comfortable, our kids are just on their computers being calm until everything explodes."