In its information of 8 March 2021, the Police expressed its concern for the increased drug use among children and the young, reporting that in the drug deaths of 2019, the use of cannabis was detected in 156 cases of the total of 433 death cases. Detective Superintendent Kari Siivo of the National Police Board wishes to underline that in the forensic chemistry exams made in 2019, drug findings were present in 433 deceased in total. Cannabis was detected in 156 cases.
The number of deaths due to drugs decreased in 2019. The three-year downward trend in the drug deaths turned in 2019, with 234 drug-related deaths in Finland. The number of drug-related deaths was 27 up from the previous year but almost 60 more if compared to the situation a decade earlier.
Moreover, the information on 8 March 2021 indicated that the number of drug-related deaths among the young (15-24 years) increased by about 30 percent from year 2015 to 2019.
The correct information is that the young (15-24) accounted for 30 percent of all drug-related deaths in 2019 while during the past five years (2015–2019), the share of the under-30-years-olds of drug poisoning deaths increased from 33 percent to 49 percent.
The earlier information also mentioned that the use or experimentation of drugs by the young is often based on lack of understanding but this may have consequences lasting long into the future.
- For example, when a person is seeking work, the employers may have a basic form personal safety assessment made, and ask the applicant to provide a drug screening certificate, he adds.
The provisions on the drug test certificate are contained in the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life (759/2004).
