Columns Finland’s total war on drugs has failed, and it is worth ending

Last year’s in recent times, two political papers on drugs were published in Europe: one groundbreaking and one bland.

The groundbreaking paper was presented in Berlin by the new Chancellor of the Social Democrats, Olaf Scholz, and his government. In its program, the new German government agreed to legalize the sale of cannabis for ‘pleasure purposes’ (Genusweck).

The government of Sanna Marin (sd) uploaded an unannounced paper online in Helsinki. Government decision-in-principle on drug policy 2021–2023 is basically the same as the corresponding decision of Juha Sipilä’s (central) board in 2016:

“The goal of Finland’s drug policy is to prevent the use and distribution of drugs so that the health, social and individual harm caused by their use and control is kept to a minimum.”

Finland and Germany are surprisingly close to each other in the cannabis experiment. According to the EU Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction In 2018, 15.5 per cent of 15–34-year-olds in Finland had used cannabis in the past year, compared with 16.9 per cent in Germany. In both countries, approximately a quarter of those under 64 had ever tried cannabis.

There is a difference in culture. In German cities, cannabis is an everyday thing to talk about. There is also an increase in speech around Finns. Popular culture mirrors American attitudes that have loosened. Cannabis use is now permitted in 18 U.S. states, among them the entertainment mecca of California.

Finland seems to be closing its eyes to developments. Although cannabis use is common here, there is little talk about it.

However, attitudes live on, especially among young people. At the HS poll in June nearly half of those under 31, 44 percent, were willing to decriminalize cannabis use and 20 percent all drug use. In the survey, more than 40 percent of those under the age of 50 were in favor of legalizing cannabis sales. The oldest Finns are most opposed to such changes.

Elsewhere speech is already an opportunity. In Germany a wave of investment, jobs and tax revenue is expectedas long as legalization progresses.

Finland, on the other hand, dreams of decades of failure in the drug market, despite decades of failure. The SDP preaches about the tax base, but leaves this tax revenue in the government to the grayest possible economy. In Germany, the substances will soon be produced by controlled agriculture, in Finland the line blessed by the rural party center is a mixture grown in foreign caves knows what.

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The strongest argument in favor of legalizing production is global responsibility. In Mexico alone, thousands die every year in gang wars to have a line in the nightclub toilet in Helsinki. Is the price paid for drug demand in the right place?

About failure there is not even a dispute. In Finland, both drug-related deaths and the number of people seeking drug treatment have increased, says the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) Drugs in Finland 2020 report.

A year ago, THL left Markku Tervahauda, ​​CEO, who spoke a lot signed statement the citizens’ initiative to abolish the criminalization of cannabis, which is still being massaged by Parliament. THL noted that “current drug policy has failed to achieve its goal” and called for a complete turn from punishment to treatment:

“THL suggests that drug policy be developed to address drug use primarily through social and health care, and that the societal debate be pursued to eliminate the criminalization of all drugs.”

Indeed, the biggest failure would be if the next government again cut and glued its drug vision from the lazy paper of the Marin government. The message is clear: the total war on drugs has failed, and it is worth stopping.

The author is the forerunner of the editorial office of economics and politics.