Exceptionally potent heroin blamed in two overdose deaths in Helsinki

Growth in heroin use could be related to shortage of buprenorphine

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The Helsinki drug police have broken up a heroin distribution and sales network. The group, comprising dozens of people, is believed to have distributed about 1.5 kilos of exceptionally potent heroin mainly in Helsinki.
      Jari Aarnio, head of the Helsinki drug squad, believes that about 100,000 single doses of the drug had been sold.
     
At least two people are believed to have died of overdoses of the strong heroin in Helsinki recently. Used intravenously, the exceptionally potent narcotic has caused a number of dangerous situations among users.
      During the investigation five people have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated drug crimes. About 200 grammes of heroin have been confiscated, as well as about EUR 40,000 in cash.
      In addition to the main suspects, police have arrested about ten people who took part in dealing the heroin on the street.
     
The main suspects are two 40-year-old men, one from the United States and one from Nigeria. The two, who have lived in Finland for a long time, are suspected of having organised the sale and import of the drug.
      Street sales were handled by Finns.
      Aarnio says that the drug that was sold was unusually powerful, with almost no impurities mixed in.
      About ten heroin users came close to dying from the unexpectedly strong fix.
      The two who died of heroin overdoses in the early part of the year were men aged 30 and 40.
      In the worst heroin epidemic in 2000, 63 deaths were blamed on heroin use.
     
At the Helsinki area's Vinkki needle exchange and drug user counselling centres, regional director Päivi Puro says that there has been an increase in the availability of heroin.
      The results of the availability have been reflected in the state of health of Vinkki's customers.
      "At times people have been in poor condition, when the drug has not been available."
      Police are not sure about the origin of the heroin. Aarnio says that it is not from Afghanistan.
      "According to one assessment, it could come from India, but we cannot be completely sure about that", Aarnio says.
     
Among the theories for the apparent rise in demand for heroin is the decrease in availability of buprenorphine, a synthetic drug used in helping addicts give up heroin.
      A major source of buprenorphine, in the form of pills sold under the name Subutex, dried up at the beginning of the year when Estonia and Latvia joined the Schengen zone.
      Before that, many Finns had acquired the drug on prescription from Estonia and Latvia, and were allowed to bring it into Finland legally. Some of the drug was diverted onto the black market. Under the terms of Schengen, Estonian and Latvian clinics were no longer allowed to dispense Subutex to Finnish patients.
      "Customers have said that the availability of Subutex is very poor now", says Anneli Karppanen, a doctor who cares for patients in withdrawal treatment.
      The price of Subutex has risen sharply on the black market.
      Reverting from Subutex to heroin carries a significant risk of overdose, especially as the potency of black-market heroin is more difficult to evaluate than that of Subutex, which is produced legally.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Study finds more moderation in Finnish attitudes toward illegal drugs (25.3.2008)
  Drug substitution treatment patients to be treated at Helsinki public health clinics (6.2.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat