Erik “Myggen” Mykland, one of Norway’s most famous footballers, has been arrested for his links to one of Norway’s biggest drug networks. This popular football star is charged with using and possessing cocaine, but Mykland insists that his drug abuse problems are long over.
Mykland got swept up in one of the largest undercover narcotics investigations in Norwegian history. Police told the newspaper VG that the 37 year-old Mykland only had a “peripheral role” in the major drug network,
but they also suspect him of cocaine use. “I have done something that I’m not especially proud of and which is very stupid, [but I am] prepared to face the music,” the footballer told VG newspaper.
Mykland was readying himself to begin training with his new club, Kristiansand’s Start when he was arrested. The club is backing Mykland, and its sports director Svein Mathisen told VG they “wouldn’t have given him a contract if we didn’t have faith that that he was back on the right track.”
‘Myggen’, as he’s often called, was a regular part of Norway’s national team in the 1990s. He has played for high profile clubs such as Panathinaikos and Munich, but quit in 2004 after prolonged injuries. He was just beginning his comeback with Start when the drug arrest happened. Mykland plans to continue training with Start despite the drug charges, which he insists is part of his past, not his present life.
Actis is an umbrella organisation that brings together 26 NGOs, networks and foundations active in the field of alcohol and drug problems. The main body of these organisations was formerly organised under The Norwegian Temperance Alliance (Avholdsfolkets Landsråd), which has now been dissolved. At the foundation meeting of Actis, about ten new organisations joined in, and together the organisations of Actis constitute the largest body of voluntary organisations in the field of alcohol and drug problems in Norway.