Finns Worried Taliban Return Will Boost Heroin Use

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium - the key ingredient in heroin and other opiate drugs. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the percentage of Afghan land devoted to farming opium poppies grew 37 percent in 2019-2020 alone.

Photo Insert: Heroin and paraphernalia for its use

With a rise in production, there are fears that European countries could see increased heroin use as the supply rises. But National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) special investigator Jari Leskinen told the Finnish news service Yle the risks were overstated.

"The fear of a heroin tsunami as a result of the Taliban regime is based on ignorance. The huge and steady flow from Afghanistan has been going on for a long time and will continue," he said.

Leskinen does not believe that demand for the drug will rise in Finland in the future, arguing that the flow of heroin from Afghanistan has remained high and constant, under both the Taliban and the US-backed government.

A change of government is unlikely to affect this. "The UN's annual reports make it quite clear that, year after year and decade after decade, Afghanistan is the main producer of raw opium and heroin, whoever is in power," Leskinen said.

In Finland, heroin was replaced by buprenorphine - usually known by the brand name Subutex - in the early 2000s, a period when heroin had caused many overdoses and deaths.

Although it is available on prescription in Finland, smuggling Subutex is also a very lucrative business, Helsinki police say. Subutex is brought to Finland from France, as well as the streets of some other places. One tablet costs a few euros.

In Finland, they may ask for dozens of euros, or even in northern Finland or in prisons a hundred euros. Subutex has a high-profit margin in Finland," said Markku Heinikari, inspector at Helsinki Police Department's narcotics unit.

According to the experts, Subutex has all but replaced heroin use in Finland. "Most of the Subutex trafficked by foreign criminal groups comes to Finland. Nowhere else is it used to the same extent," Heinikari said.

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