A record amount of amphetamine is currently used in the Helsinki metropolitan area, according to the ongoing studies on wastewater conducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Weekly sample collection began around March and April.
THL and the National Police Board explained in a joint press release that the use of this drug "has continued to grow during the emergency conditions." Simultaneously, the number of suspected cases of drug-impaired driving has exceeded the number of suspected cases of driving under the influence of alcohol for the first time.
"The use of amphetamine has tripled since 2013, and no clear decline has been detected in any of the drugs analysed in the wastewater study despite restrictive measures related to coronavirus," says Teemu Gunnar, Head of the Forensic Toxicology Unit at THL.
Since the state of emergency entered into force in mid-March, the use of amphetamine has seen an average increase of 15% in the Helsinki metropolitan area compared to the previous six months, according to THL and the National Police Board.
“No link between the increase in amphetamine use and the exceptional circumstances caused by coronavirus can be indicated. But the fact remains that amphetamine use has been higher than ever before, at least in the Helsinki metropolitan area”, Gunnar says.
Cocaine and ecstasy
Methamphetamine use spiked in 2016 and 2017. Since then, the use has returned to a low level and there was no major change in the use of methamphetamine during this spring.
Growth in cocaine use has halted and ecstasy use has remained nearly unchanged.
Cocaine use increased manifold in the Helsinki metropolitan area from 2013 to 2019. However, use rates have recently stabilized and even decreased.
“Despite this, the restrictive measures taken due to the coronavirus situation, such as closing restaurants and restrictions on assembly or cross-border traffic, do not seem to have considerably affected cocaine use. It will be interesting to see how phasing out restrictions will affect this”, says Development Manager Aino Kankaanpää.
No changes have been detected in ecstasy use this spring. While there was an increase in average ecstasy use between 2013 and 2015, the use rate has remained considerably stable since then.
Increase visible in police work
The results of the wastewater study confirm the view of the police on the development of the drug situation. Social phenomena caused by increased use rates are also reflected in national police statistics.
According to the police, the number of all drug-related offences increased by 40% between January and April compared to the same period last year. Based on police observations, the availability of drugs has also not decreased during the emergency conditions.
”Most of this increase in numbers can be explained by the so-called Silkkitie (‘Silk Road’) investigation unveiled last year. A lot of related offences have also been reported this year. The number of drug-related offences has increased for years and will continue to grow”, says police inspector Teemu Saukoniemi from the National Police Board.
In the period between January and April, the number of suspected cases of drug-impaired driving exceeded the number of suspected cases of driving under the influence of alcohol in Finland for the first time. The number of suspected cases of drug-impaired driving increased by 846 cases from the corresponding period of the previous year, totalling at 3,525.
“The police have had more time than usual to intervene in cases of drunken driving in traffic as a result of reasons such as the cancellation of all police training has because of coronavirus. There has also been less traffic, making it easier to pay attention to deviations in traffic behaviour”, notes police inspector Heikki Ihalainen from the National Police Board.
The incidence of drug-impaired driving has been dramatically increasing for a long time by now. The number of suspected cases per year increased by more than double in 2013–2019. By contrast, the number of cases of driving under the influence of alcohol has dropped to less than half since the start of the new millennium.
72.5% of cases in Helsinki
In Helsinki, as many as 72.5% of all suspected cases of driving under the influence (DUI) between January and April of 2020 were believed to involve drug use. At the nationwide level, the use of other intoxicants was suspected in 55.3% of total DUI cases.
Amphetamine has been the most common finding in drug-impaired driving cases for nearly 20 years by now. According to police information, in 2019 around 60% of all suspects in drug-impaired driving cases had been using amphetamine. During the first quarter of this year, amphetamine was detected in the samples of 1,771 suspects involved in drug-impaired driving cases. Last year, amphetamine was detected in 1,359 DUI cases.
Amphetamine was also visible in the samples of seized drugs examined in the Forensic laboratory earlier this year. The total amount in the 1,853 samples examined between January and April was nearly 125 kg. In comparison, the total amount in 2018 was around 147 kg and in 2019 around 157 kg.
“When talking about the amounts of seized drugs, we should remember that the numbers are heavily influenced by individual pre-trial investigations, and the criminal laboratory does not usually investigate small amounts of drugs seized related to unlawful use of narcotics”, Saukoniemi explains.
