Iceland's solution for healthy youth

In the mid-1990s, Icelandic teenagers were among the biggest drinkers and smokers in Europe. “You couldn’t walk the streets in downtown Reykjavik on a Friday night because it felt unsafe. There were hordes of teenagers getting in-your-face drunk.”

Today Iceland is at the top of the European countries where young people (13 to 19 years old) maintain the healthiest lifestyle.

How did this development come about?

Harvey Milkman, an American psychology professor who teaches for part of the year at Reykjavik University, developed the idea that people were getting addicted to changes in brain chemistry. Kids who were “active confronters” were after a rush – they’d get it by stealing hubcaps and radios and later cars, or through stimulant drugs. Alcohol also alters brain chemistry, of course. It’s a sedative but it sedates the brain’s control first, which can remove inhibitions and, in limited doses, reduce anxiety.

“People can get addicted to drink, cars, money, sex, calories, cocaine – whatever,” says Milkman. “The idea of behavioral addiction became our trademark.”

This idea spawned another: “Why not orchestrate a social movement around natural highs: around people getting high on their own brain chemistry – because it seems obvious to me that people want to change their consciousness – without the deleterious effects of drugs?”

By 1992, his team in Denver had won a $1.2 million government grant to form Project Self-Discovery, which offered teenagers natural-high alternatives to drugs and crime. They got referrals from teachers, school nurses and counsellors, taking in kids from the age of 14 who didn’t see themselves as needing treatment but who had problems with drugs or petty crime.

“We didn’t say to them, you’re coming in for treatment. We said, we’ll teach you anything you want to learn: music, dance, hip hop, art, martial arts.” The idea was that these different classes could provide a variety of alterations in the kids’ brain chemistry, and give them what they needed to cope better with life: some might crave an experience that could help reduce anxiety, others may be after a rush.

At the same time, the recruits got life-skills training, which focused on improving their thoughts about themselves and their lives, and the way they interacted with other people. “The main principle was that drug education doesn’t work because nobody pays attention to it. What is needed are the life skills to act on that information,” Milkman says.

Following that Iceland started a nationwide program: Teenagers were offered free courses in sports or artistic disciplines - financed by the state. Kids were told it was a three-month program. Some stayed five years.

At the same time, the government adjusted the legislation: advertisements for cigarettes and alcohol were banned, parents’ organizations were created and worked closely with schools to support young people with mental health problems.

The results are impressive:

The proportion of young people who regularly drink decreased from 48% to 5% within 20 years.

The share of smokers fell from 23% to 3%.

Icelandic scientists recommended implementing similar strategies in other countries. New projects saw the light of day: Youth in Europe, Planet Youth and other initiatives. Even thought the Planet Youth Project is practiced by 56 partners in19 countries, it apparently faces many difficulties becoming main stream.

The main question is: who will profit from a healthy youth?

It’s clear that the cabal doesn’t want that to happen. Healthy young people do not only pose a threat to the establishment, they are terrible cash-cows. The majority of unhealthy youth are the major consumers of the multinational corporations. A few decades later, they will become good customers of big Pharma. And as the corporations lead the world and politics, it’s clear that healthy young people are not at the top of their agenda.

It’s only now that the tide seems to be turning. With the latest initiatives MAHA in the US and MEHA (Make Europe Healthy Again), we may hope that our children’s interests will be taken at heart. A healthy youth means securing our future.

The cabal doesn’t need our youth to be healthy to secure their future. They aim at a technological future, where people have become redundant. People need to be submissive, to be able to be controlled. They have to comply to living in a digital prison. Having online adventures only.

There is still hope for a better future. We will have to participate in it ourselves. We will have to guide our youth to a meaningful future. It can be done. It will be fulfilling. And we must do it together.

As soon as everyone sees how we have been misled and for what reason, people will be willing to change their lives into a healthy lifestyle. The future is ours. We only have to take it into our own hands.

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With love, as always, Cyntha