Finnish government supports creation of controlled drug use rooms

Finland's Minister of Family Affairs and Basic Social Services, Aki Lindén, supported the experiment of creating rooms for controlled drug use. A corresponding petition in the country had previously collected the necessary 50,000 signatures.

As European Pravda reports, Lindén said this in an interview with Yle.

This month, the minister intends to instruct a working group to study the issue. In particular, it should be found out what legislative changes are necessary to open such rooms.

In July, a citizen's initiative to create rooms for controlled drug use collected the necessary 50,000 signatures and will now be submitted to the parliament for consideration.

According to the initiative, such rooms would allow drug addicts to receive immediate medical care, reduce the use of illegal substances on the streets, and release of needles into the environment.

The Department of Health and Social Development, THL, commented on the initiative back in January, recommending controlled use rooms as one way to reduce drug-related deaths.

In turn, Helsinki proposed to the Finnish government to prepare a law allowing the use of drug rooms as early as 2019, but then the initiative did not pass.

According to the latest European Drug Report, Finland has the highest drug-related deaths among people under the age of 25 compared to the rest of the European Union, Norway, and Turkey.

Read Rubryka's daily timeline of war: current news on Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression.