Yle News reports that drug residue tests of samples from Finnish Parliament restrooms, taken after Christmas parties, revealed the presence of cocaine and MDMA.
Finnish public broadcaster Yle News reported finding traces of illicit drugs within the Finnish Parliament building following holiday gatherings. A November investigation involved Yle reporters collecting samples from six parliamentary restrooms (both men’s and women’s) during parliamentary parties. Laboratory analysis of these samples detected amphetamine, MDMA, and cocaine residue in half of the restrooms.
Traces of drugs have been found in the Finnish parliament after a Christmas corporate party attended by MPs, faction staff, ministerial aides and journalists – Yle
Journalists conducted a targeted search for drugs in the toilets after the event and found traces of amphetamine,…
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Kalle Lagerblom, chief operating officer at Measurlabs testing facility, confirmed to Yle that while the drug “residues are very small, there are clearly [drug] residues.”
Yle’s report clarifies that the presence of drug residue doesn’t definitively indicate drug use within the parliamentary restrooms. Lagerblom explained that contact with drug residue could occur indirectly; for instance, “a person who has been on a bus and sat on a seat contaminated with drugs, with some of the substance ending up stuck on their clothes.”
Besides parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, ministerial aides, and journalists attended the Christmas parties.
Parliament Speaker Jussi Halla-aho commented, stating that “it is of course sad and pathetic that there are signs in Parliament that people who may work here are using drugs.”
Antti Pelttari, Secretary General of the Finnish Parliament, similarly called the findings an “unfortunate surprise.” Halla-aho acknowledged the practical difficulties of addressing the issue, noting that measures like “a sniffer dog at the door of Parliament to check everyone who enters” would likely lack support.
In a similar investigation last January, Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper tested samples from eight party offices in the Swedish parliament and found cocaine traces in half the samples.
In August 2022, former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin underwent drug testing following the release of videos from a private party she attended. Some observers noted references to a “flour gang” – a Finnish slang term for cocaine users – within the video recordings. Marin’s drug test results were negative, and she maintained she had never used illicit drugs.