The problems caused by drug and alcohol misuse and the ensuing feeling of insecurity in public places – shopping centres, metro stations, buses – daily influence the lives many people. The objective of the present study was to find functional solutions for reducing these problems. The researchers also wanted to draw up a covering picture of anti-misuse work in Helsinki. A third ambition was to sharpen the picture of the challenges that urban anti-misuse work is facing in the future.

As a consequence of its location and the fact of being a metropolis, Helsinki is a gateway for new drugs and ways of misuse in Finland. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the strategies for preventive misuse work have to look at the drug situation in the areas south and east of the Gulf of Finland, too. And misuse prevention must happen at many levels already before problems become visible in, for example, statistics.

Sinikka Törmä, Kari Huotari and Sari Pitkänen:
Kaupunkipäihdetyön haasteet ja toimintamallit Helsingissä
Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus / Tutkimuksia 2007:2

The printed publication in Finnish with English summary
City of Helsinki Urban Facts / Research series 2007:2

According to the present study, the addict care of the City of Helsinki is characterised by the fact that the care is divided into several specialised branches with several actors. The so-called third sector has a crucial role especially for helping addicts and for providing so-called low threshold services for socially excluded groups.

A very clear challenge are the forms of low threshold services between or outside the special services and basic services that happen nearer the environment of the addicts. This kind of services might better reach those addicts that can be seen and heard in shopping centres and metro stations and that do not contact the basic and specialised services that already exist. Another important challenge is to develop a functional and flexible social model. We cannot reduce anti-social behaviour in public places just by upgrading the services of the authorities. What we also need is support for the local cooperation between residents, associations and other actors. That way residents could be given a better chance of assuming some of the responsibility for serenity and security in the neighbourhood also in terms of preventing problems relating to the misuse of drugs and alcohol.

City of Helsinki Urban Facts
Finland
http://www.hel2.fi/tietokeskus

02/04/2007

Sinikka Törmä, Kari Huotari and Sari Pitkänen

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Social services