Nearly one in four Finns know someone who uses an illegal drug

Most Finns support more drug treatment

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A fresh survey reveals that nearly one in four Finns know someone who uses an illegal drug. In the Helsinki region, 43 per cent of all people have a drug user among their acquaintances.
     The figures are from a study released on Wednesday, in which 500 people responded to questions on the subject. One of the entities commissioning the study was Schering-Plough, which markets drugs used in replacement therapy for drug addicts. The results of the study were made public at an event sponsored by the Finnish Society of Addiction Medicine.
     
The study shows that while most Finns have an apprehensive attitude toward drug users, 81 per cent of those responding to the telephone survey said they would be willing to offer help a friend who suffers from an addiction. A majority also believed that addiction is something that is possible to shake off.
     Half of those surveyed said that they would be willing to hire a recovered addict for a job, but a majority saw users as frightening and untrustworthy people who spread disease.
     
Attitudes toward treatment of addicts were quite positive, with 73 per cent saying that more money needs to be spent on the treatment of drug addicts, and that employers should also take part in arranging drug treatment.
      Antti Holopainen, head physician at the Järvenpää Addiction Hospital, says that the results show that the public at large takes a more positive view of addiction treatment than Finnish decision-makers do.
     The need for treatment is greatest in Helsinki, where advice centres for drug users have between 4,000 and 5,000 customers. The number for the whole country is about 12,000.
     A study by the National Public Health Institute last year indicated that more than half of all intravenous drug users in the Helsinki region wanted to get into drug replacement treatment.
     However, there is a shortage of treatment facilities, and they have stringent requirements for admission. According to estimates, only 13 per cent of addicts receive drug replacement treatment.
     The study showed that the most frequent drug used intravenously is buprenorphine, which is prescribed as in pill form to help heroin addicts shake their addiction. The drug is most commonly sold under the brand name Subutex.
     The shortage of replacement treatment facilities has turned the relatively cheap prescription medicine into an expensive black market drug. The street price for a daily dose of buprenorphine is about EUR 30, and addicts have found that crushing the pills and dissolving and injecting them is more cost-effective than taking them orally.
     
Most users of buprenorphine said that they used the drug for self-medication of their addiction.
      Hannu Alho, head physician at the National Public Health Institute, says that the difficulty of getting into replacement treatment has not reduced the amount of black market Subutex available. The main result has been "drug tourism", where Finns travel mainly to France and Estonia to get the drug on prescription and bring it back to Finland.
     While many of the travellers use the drug themselves, some of the pills find their way onto the illicit market.
     
The popularity of buprenorphine has superseded that of heroin. In 2000, when heroin was easily available in Finland, there were 63 deaths from overdose. A decline in availability in the years that followed was accompanied by a dramatic reduction in deaths. For instance, in 2004 there were not recorded deaths by heroin overdose, and in 2005 there were only three.
     In recent months the street price of heroin has dropped to about half of what it was last year, and experts fear a possible resurgence of its use.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Prescription drugs from Tallinn a familiar sight at Helsinki drug rehabilitation clinics (23.2.2007)

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