The rooms would allow the use of illegal drugs under the supervision of health professionals, ensuring that users experiencing complications can get help without delay. They are also believed to reduce public disturbances and reduce the amount of drug paraphernalia thrown into public spaces.
The Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) estimated in January that drug use rooms are a recommended measure to reduce drug-related deaths. The city of Helsinki, on the other hand, already proposed three years ago that the government should adopt laws that would allow the trial use of the rooms, but the proposal never came to the government.
Statistics Finland has reported the number of drug deaths has increased from 134 in 2000 to 258 in 2020.
It is alarming that the share of drug-related deaths of people under the age of 25 in Finland is higher, almost 30 percent, than anywhere else in the European Union, Norway or Turkey. European Drug Report 2022.
Minister of Family and Social Affairs Aki Lindén (SDP) evaluated in a previous interview with the public broadcasting company, stated that even if the consumption room experiment could produce valuable information, it would require legislative changes drawn up jointly by several ministries.
STT on Thursday reported that the idea of establishing controlled drug use rooms is controversial among the parliamentary parties. The Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People’s Party support the idea, while the Coalition and the Social Democrats have reservations about it.
“Expenditure rooms increase safety for both users and others. With the help of consumption rooms, users’ understanding of the services can be promoted and overdoses, fatal drug poisonings and drug use on the streets can be reduced,” a spokesman for the Left Alliance told STT.
In its response, SDP considered that it would be important to collect more detailed information on how controlled consumption rooms would work and what kind of effects they would have specifically in Finland.
The parties opposed to the idea widely estimate that the rooms would not be an effective means of addressing the problems caused by drug use.
The Christian Democratic Party expressed its concern that the rooms would make drug use more acceptable, while the Basic Finns estimated that they could worsen the drug problem. The center did not specify why it opposes the idea.
According to the news agency, around 90 drug use rooms have been established in eight European countries.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page