Should facilities be provided for drug users for safe piercing? A large proportion of researchers, substance abuse workers and drug addicts consider the idea of operating rooms to be good, but the views of regional election candidates are divided.
Myyrmäki Next to the train station in Vantaa is a place for people who use drugs intravenously.
The name of the place is Vinkkari. In Vinkkar, maintained by the City of Vantaa, you can do business anonymously and the service is free of charge. Help is available for a variety of concerns.
The customer flow is steady on a weekday afternoon. The service point distributes, among other things, pure drug syringes, contraceptives, hepatitis A and B vaccinations and, at certain times, coronary vaccinations. In addition, Vinkkari has the opportunity to take hepatitis and HIV tests.
The employees are social and health professionals. But in addition to them, there is a hedgehog standing in the lobby with a name tag hanging on his chest.
The note reads: “Kim, an expert in experience”. Her job is to tell clients through her own experience how drug addiction can be defeated.
Myyrmäki’s Vinkkari distributes prevention and use equipment to drug users.
Wink such as health counseling and needle exchange points are common in large cities in Finland.
Their basic idea is to reduce the harm caused by drugs: it is no longer believed that drug problems can be completely eliminated from Finland, so we need to focus on what can be done to improve the situation.
However, current measures to reduce drug-related harm are already seen as ineffective. Drug-related deaths and problems are on the rise in Finland.
It is widely believed among addiction experts that a change should be made to Finnish legislation that would allow the controlled use of drugs in operating rooms. At the moment, the law is unequivocal: drugs should not be used anywhere – even in Vinkkar.
The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has stated in its official position that penalties for drug use should be waived. It would also allow for operating rooms.
“The strong position of experts in this field is that it would be worthwhile to experiment with operating rooms as planned,” says THL’s research professor. Pekka Hakkarainen To HS by phone.
There is extensive international research evidence on the positive impact of operating rooms on the reduction of drug-related harms.
The professor’s view from the field level is confirmed by the corresponding nurse working at Myyrmäki’s Vinkkar Ulla Seppänen-Lång.
“When you do this work every day, you really can’t disagree.”
According to Seppänen-Lång, his work would be made easier with the operating rooms. Access rooms would also reach users who would not otherwise be reached. In addition, potential overdoses could be treated more quickly and the safety of the drugs could be tested. Building trust with users could also be easier.
Read more: HS’s extensive special article on drug users on the streets of Helsinki
The responsible nurse Ulla Seppänen-Lång says that controlled drug rooms would be in the interests of Vantaa residents.
So The use of the room issue can be understood, it is good to create an overview of the situation in which a serious drug addiction in a person runs.
An experienced expert on duty at Vinkkari can tell about it Kim.
Kim found her first love in middle school. First love was alcohol. Already at the age of 13, he started drinking stumps whenever he could. At the age of 14, cannabis slowly came along.
Kim grew up in a “good and loving family,” and there were no problems with drugs or violence in the family circle, for example. The financial situation was also quite good. Yet coincidence led Kim to the beginning of the wrong path.
Kim seemed to have been a young person with a strong tendency to addictions. Along with the mildest intoxicants, sedatives appeared early, but the backstage remained upright. The school actually went well, and he moved from Kymenlaakso to Helsinki for high school.
In high school, Kim broke away from the other students. Drinking accelerated with adulthood. It happened with friends but also alone at home.
However, Kim graduated as a student and left for the army. The postgraduate place was found at the Swedish-language School of Economics in Hanken. Then one night out, the guys offered amphetamine. After a while, cocaine and mdma, or ecstasy, were also in use.
“It felt like something was missing from my life,” Kim says.
Kim quickly drifted away from society’s circle of aid. School was interrupted. He was no longer so reached, drug use became the center of life.
“It was the beginning of the end.”
On Sunday On January 23, the first regional elections in history will be held in Finland. The election elects delegates who decide how the funding for social, health and rescue services in their area is used.
One issue in the election is how to develop the services of drug users regionally. Another question is how the operating rooms would be treated if they were to one day be established in Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat in the election machine candidates were asked whether a drug room should be set up in their welfare area if the law allowed it.
When looking at the answers from the Vantaa and Kerava welfare areas, for example, they seem to be divided. The operating rooms are quite strongly supported by the Left Alliance, the RKP and the Greens. The Basic Finns and the Christian Democrats are most strongly opposed to them. The rest of the parties settle in a fairly neutral zone.
The arguments are familiar. Proponents refer to expert assessments and the fact that there are good experiences with operating rooms elsewhere in Europe and the Nordic countries. Operating rooms have been shown to reduce the harms of drug use.
Read more: Juha-Pekka Pääskysaari used heroin every day but got dry – Now she hopes that Helsinki will take a model from the operating rooms in Copenhagen
Opponents believe that as a result of their own chains of reasoning, operating rooms will create new networks for drug use and, in the worst case, accelerate drug use. It is also widely believed that the partial legalization of drugs sends the “wrong signal”. In addition, it is much emphasized that hardly anyone would want a utility room next to their own home.
THL: n research professor Hakkarainen is familiar with the Finnish drug debate. He criticizes the debate in part as “naive and pottery”.
Hakkarainen says that there is an interesting dividing line between locality and nationality in the issue of utility rooms. Often, more than one nationwide support room is supported locally.
“It’s probably because big cities use the most drugs and the harms are most visible. Then there are a lot of decision-makers in the countryside from the countryside, and there the drug issue looks very different, ”says Hakkarainen.
Even around the world, operating rooms have been set up specifically as a result of local initiatives. For this reason, regional elections can be a surprisingly significant factor in the development of operating rooms, even though there is no legislative power in regional councils, Hakkarainen thinks. The professor believes that a change in the law will be achieved sooner or later.
Hakkarainen says the debate is naive and potentious because he does not seem ready for any changes in drug policy. It is precisely the illegality of drugs that is often invoked, and therefore no development work is being done. According to Hakkarainen, MPs in particular should think more broadly and get to know the research results and the life situations of users.
However, public opinion seems to be changing. In 2018 by THL statement according to half of the Finns were ready to accept the operating rooms.
“Now that the fact-based discussion has increased, I believe that opinion has turned even further,” says Hakkarainen.
Predominant The initiative for operating rooms was made in 2019 by the Helsinki City Government. The city government made it to the government legislative initiative and proposed the enactment of a separate law justifying the experiment in the drug room.
Leading politicians in Helsinki therefore saw it as important that a new way of preventing drug harm could be introduced in the capital, where drug problems come to the attention of almost every citizen.
Member of Parliament in Helsinki Veronika Honkasalo (left) in December 2021 submitted a written question to the Government on the introduction of drug rooms in Helsinki.
Although the written question was signed by several MPs across party lines in addition to Honkasalo, the operating rooms have not been heated widely in Parliament. The counter-arguments are familiar: even partial legalization would send the wrong signal about society’s attitude to drugs.
Research professor Hakkarainen does not believe in the wrong signal when it comes to changing the law. He also does not believe that ordinary citizens would like to go to the operating rooms to try hard drugs. The situation in which the customer group of the operating rooms live is not anyone’s goal. It’s about how it’s communicated.
“Of course, a mere change in the law would leave the interpretation open. The change should be communicated and implemented in a well-planned and thoughtful way. ”
According to Hakkarainen, if an amendment to the law were made, attention should be paid to many other issues in addition to communication. For example, the locations of operating rooms, employee responsibilities, penalties for operating crimes, and opening hours are tricky issues.
“It would be worthwhile to at least try out the operating rooms,” says Hakkarainen.
He believes the pilot would benefit both users in distress and the comfort and safety of the urban environment.
Kim currently works as an experience expert. “If I can help a single person, it’s a really great thing,” he says.
Kim quickly dived deep into the world of hard drugs. It didn’t take long to touch the bottom, but it took years.
The money ran out, and the money for drugs had to be obtained with quick prompts. When he no longer received instant tips, he raised money through crime. It shames Kim, and she doesn’t want to tell you more about it.
“When I had to hurt others, I didn’t like myself anymore.”
Debts grew out of control, and housing had to leave underneath. Kim became self-destructive. There was no getting rid of the substances, there was always a new outing.
However, Kim’s luck was with her close family. Not everyone is lucky. Kim’s mother persistently spoke to her son in favor of the treatment. Finally, one day, Kim agreed to go to a peer support group.
“I was skeptical, but I went. I was so tired of the drug life, ”Kim says.
In the peer group, Kim heard comforting stories for the first time. An even more difficult situation had arisen. Some even had a job, a healthy relationship, and dreams. Broken human relationships had been repaired and society had to return.
Experiences from peers after a few setbacks led to Kim getting dry. September 16, 2020 was Kim’s first “clean day”.
Now Kim stays within the scope of help and works as an experiential expert for the benefit of drug users herself. He progresses day by day. For his work, he receives a salary that can be used to pay off tens of thousands of euros in foreclosure debts.
Kim says she is convinced that the operating rooms would have led her to help earlier. He locked himself in solitude over illegal drugs.
“I didn’t know anything about any help. My perception of peer groups was mainly based on movies. ”
Kim also advocates for use rooms because people wouldn’t have to use drugs in “green toilets and bags”. No one wants to live that life, experience expert Kim says.
“In the operating room, life would be even more dignified.”
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