Youth councils call for a report on introducing drug consumption rooms

In the statement, they express their concern about drug-related deaths of young people and call for concrete measures to prevent them.

Content of the statement:

The youth councillors demand that a report on introducing drug consumption rooms be carried out without delay. Substance addiction is a serious illness and drug use cannot be stopped by bans or penalties alone. Solutions are needed that are humane and based on researched facts, reduce harmful effects and save human lives.

In 2023, one in four deaths of young people aged 15–24 was caused by drugs. Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 40 per cent in the number of drug-related deaths of young people. Everyone who died was someone's friend, child, sibling or in some other way close to them – none of these deaths should have happened.

Supervised consumption rooms are one effective way to reduce the harmful effects of drugs. They reach marginalised people who would otherwise use drugs in the streets and other public places. This makes the environment more pleasant and increases the sense of safety.

International examples, such as Denmark, prove the effectiveness of consumption rooms: drug-related deaths decreased by almost one third within a year of their introduction. There are 78 consumption rooms in Europe and no deaths have taken place in them. Furthermore, nearly two thirds of Finns are in favour of a trial of drug consumption rooms.

It is intolerable that we allow the most vulnerable young people to die for ideological reasons. The youth councils therefore propose the implementation of a trial of drug consumption rooms in Finland to investigate their effectiveness. A broad-ranging debate on reducing the drug-related deaths of young people is required and young people must also be included in it.

Sara Heino (Chair, Youth Council of South Savo Wellbeing Services County)
Ehan Wadud (Chair, Youth Council of  the City of Helsinki)
Janna-Jemina Jämsen (Chair, Youth Council of Central Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County)
Juuso Salmela (Chair, Youth Council of Kymenlaakso Wellbeing Services County)
Andreas Dimitriou (Chair, Youth Council of Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County)
Aarni Mery (Chair, Youth Council of Lapland Wellbeing Services County)
Eemeli Tuominen (Chair, Youth Council of Pirkanmaa Wellbeing Services County)
Ida Hirvonen (Chair, Youth Council of North Karelia Wellbeing Services County)
Juho Juvenius (Chair, Youth Council of North Savo Wellbeing Services County)

More information: Kalle Hietala, Administrative Expert and Secretary of the Youth Council, kalle.hietala@luvn.fi