Junk|Drug mushrooms have been left in Customs’ wounds in increasing numbers in recent years.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Helsinki police find intoxicating mushrooms in the possession of drug users every week.
Customs has seized more and more drug mushrooms, especially psilocybin mushrooms, in recent years.
Last year, Customs had 409 cases related to drug mushrooms, this year, by the end of August, 307 cases.
In general, the number of intoxicating natural products is increasing.
Drug mushrooms has remained in the wounds of the Customs in recent years to an increasing extent, the director of supervision of the Customs Hannu Sinkkonen tells.
Last year, Customs had 409 cases related to drug mushrooms. A total of 5.5 kilograms of them were found.
In general, according to Sinkkonen, the popularity of intoxicating natural products has grown. One example of such an “organic drug” is a substance called kratom, which is consumed like tea but has an opioid-like effect on the brain.
In 2020, Customs had 73 cases related to mushrooms, and 1.3 kilograms of the substance was seized. There were 199 cases in 2021 and 241 the following year.
This year, until the end of August, there have been 307 cases and measured in weight 4.5 kilos.
Psilocybin mushrooms, which belong to psychedelics, are most commonly used for narcotic purposes. People also buy other forbidden mushrooms from abroad. Therefore, mushrooms cannot be talked about in one bundle, says Sinkkonen.
He points out that mushrooms are found in different forms: fresh, dried, powder and liquid.
Intoxicating mushrooms are found in Helsinki every week, says the crime inspector of the Helsinki police Kimmo Sainio.
The police partially knows where the mushrooms come from, but the origin is not always clear. So far, there has not been a major importation case involving narcotic mushrooms, where the origin would have been investigated in more detail.
“The most likely thing is that they were ordered from abroad. Customs has many cases of this,” says Sainio.
Collecting, using, possessing, growing and selling drug mushrooms are crimes in Finland.
As a whole Customs has found 138 different narcotics this year. Their number is increasing, but mushrooms are only a small part. Last year, 1,200 kilograms of drugs were found, of which, for example, 465 kilograms were marijuana.
Sainio points out that the police most often find cannabis or harder drugs in the possession of drug users.
“Has a subculture emerged that wants to use mushrooms?” he ponders.
Drug mushrooms are such a small phenomenon that the police have not monitored the matter more closely or recorded statistics.
In spring reported, that rap artist Redrama has been caught ordering drug mushrooms.
#Drugs #popularity #organic #drugs #grown #Helsinki