Youth drug deaths hit a record as Helsinki aims to halve the toll

Drug-related deaths among young people in Finland reached a record in 2025, with 64 people aged 15 to 24 dying from drugs, about 60 per cent more than the year before. Helsinki is now aiming to halve drug deaths, according to Yle.

Four of those who died were under 18, Statistics Finland’s cause-of-death figures show. While the largest number of drug deaths was in Helsinki, the problem affects the whole country.

Drug deaths include accidental and intentional poisonings, or overdoses, as well as deaths linked to long-term drug use. Accidental poisoning remains the most common cause, but deaths associated with long-term use or drug dependence have increased significantly since the early 2000s.

Most deaths involve several substances taken together. Common findings include the opioid buprenorphine, benzodiazepines and alcohol. The share of fatal poisonings involving stimulants such as amphetamine and alpha-PVP has also risen, although other substances still account for most deaths.

Karoliina Karjalainen, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, said the rise reflected a long-term trend as drug use and related harms have become more common throughout the 2000s. Substance problems can also contribute indirectly to deaths, including through accidents and suicides.

Helsinki aims to strengthen prevention and services

Helsinki approved a new substance-use strategy in August. It aims to strengthen prevention work and low-threshold services, improve everyday safety and halve drug deaths.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has also awarded nearly six million euros in state grants to wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki and the HUS Group to prevent drug deaths among young people. It is too early to assess the effect of these measures, as the latest cause-of-death figures cover deaths investigated in 2025.

Helsinki’s Nolla project focuses on preventing drug deaths among people under 25. Its planned measures include piloting naloxone nasal spray, an antidote to opioid overdoses; improving referral to treatment in cooperation with police; developing residential detoxification and rehabilitation services to better meet young people’s needs; and strengthening cooperation between child protection and substance-use services.

Project manager Jalmiina Nummelin said young people may feel invulnerable and that substance-use services still do not reach them early enough. She said young people often enter services through child-protection processes rather than seeking help voluntarily, particularly when they are under 18.

Nummelin also said drugs have become easier to obtain, including through orders delivered to people’s homes. She said young people know where to get substances if they want them.