Extremely cool that you have the courage to talk about the negative sides of this great country! I hate when people think this place is perfect, we too have our own problems and people talking about it, especially people originating from other cultures are one of the biggest contributors to the change!

I really like the way you tackled this difficult subject. If a person, due to depression, bad luck or decisions falls in to bad habits, or just tries to numb away the horrible reality it is sometimes difficult to stop the spiralling. I walk daily pass or through the ”Piritori” and the state of some of the people there… it’s so saddening. No one has ever bothered me though, so I’ve never felt afraid walking through there.

I like your lighthearted and laid-back videos, but it's good that you're aware about the negative aspects of Finland as well. I've noticed that a lot of foreigners have a naive and idealistic image about Finland, as if Finland is a perfect utopia where nothing bad ever happens, or they are aware of the problems, but then either downplay them or use 'whataboutism', i.e. "Yeah, well, it's not as bad as in [insert country]." or "Yeah, well, [insert country] is way worse." etc. It's frustrating. Big or small, they are still problems which are hindering our society, ignoring and downplaying them doesn't solve anything. Thank you for addressing the issues.

As a Swede we have similar social structures and culture as Finland, so a lot of problems are quite the same. But the problems here has gotten out of hand with drug/gang related violence, which is sad its not the country I grew up in anymore, but all thou I still feel safe in my home town. Anyway i wish my finish brothers the best and hopefully its a solution there in the future❤

Thank you for talking about this subject, and in such a considered and thoughtful manner, as a Finn and a sober addict with a rather long history of drug and alcohol abuse myself I find it very important to have more discussions about this topic. Thank you again!

Interesting that you managed to choose the most notorious corner to find drug addicts and alcoholists from the entire Finland generally known as ”piritori” or ”amphetamin plaza”. It is often a very sad place to walk by. We must change the way we treat these people. Treat them as fellow humans and give them help, not punishment. Thank you for the great video with good insight regarding a very important issue.

Good video. Your neutral and analytical approach to a difficult topic is really much appreciated. It's good to bring up these topics too as long it's done respectfully like this 👍

I have only been in Finland a few months, and I have a daughter, so maybe I am noticing different things. My frame of reference is Poland, so I'm comparing to there. I see a lot of people who are addicted to their phones. I always see parents in playgrounds with their children, but they seem more often interested in their phone. I see parents giving their very young children (I'm guessing 1-2 years old) who are sitting in their pram being pushed around, a phone. I mean even in general when you walk around, nearly everyone I see has their face glued to their phone. I've read the educational policies from daycare centres in Espoo/Helsinki and they often mention they don't preclude the use of mobile devices during the day, some parents talk about teachers giving young children an iPad to play with. This is all quite a shock to me, considering most research shows the harm that they have on young minds, I am a person with personal experience with this too, growing up around when cellphones were first released, the internet, etc. Anyway, I think this is also a social issue in Finland, and I've never seen it talked about.

I appreciate it MD. Daiki. Im a psychiatrist and your video is an very informative for me

Im from Argentina. One day I mixed benzos with alcohol and I almost died. I planned a detox at home and recovered.

I applaud your courage to tackle an issue like this on your channel. When in comes to the topic at hand, I can only say opiate mainetance treatment saves lives. (or whatever korvaushoito is called)

Very good explanation 👊 Keep up your good word ❤️

Thank you covering this issue with delicacy! I think one of the reasons why so many homeless people and people with alcohol or drug addiction hang around in Sörnäinen/Piritori is that there is (or at least used to be) many places that provide services for them. For example No Fixed Abode NGO (Vailla vakinaista asuntoa RY) and The Finnish Foundation for Supporting Ex-offenders (Kriminaalihuollon tukisäätiö). And there's also many homeless shelters and day centers are nearby area so that's why these kind of social problems are more visible in that area.

Touching such dimension is important in this fast moving 🌎 ! Great work bro 👍

Loved this video! Thank you Daiki from a Finn!

Excellent video! This is definitely a topic that not many people touches on. Kudos for bringing this topic up and hopefully the government can do something to help this ongoing issue. Hope to see more videos like this from you in the future!

When looking at younger people (younger than 35) I think alcohol consumption has leveled out or even lowered. Using drugs however has increased. Cities have been affected far worse than countryside. It's sad to see so many people ruining their lives for such a small amount of good feeling. And it's not only that alcohol and drugs ruin their lives but also the lives of their close ones.

thank you daiki as always :)

Good video, Thanks for the info.

Very informative views on real issues affecting today’s young generation all over the globe … the government may allow medical grade marihuana for alternative use “still harmful when one takes without medical supervision” many drugs on the streets are produced in mini scale factories which has adverse effects because chemicals are used to produce these street drugs which are life threatening … Daiki Yoshikawa it shows you genuinely care for the people in Finland and issues which needs holistic approach by state and society

Hi! Lotsa Luv from Finland!

A very important video!

This was a sad film. I hope there can be a change for the better in the future.

Good videos Daiki!

Really cool video. I am an ex addict and it so important to talk about his. kudos 🙏

ありがとう、そして素晴らしい週末を🤗。

It's so sad, I hope that all people that require help - will receive it

Thank you for tackling this! I hope Finland will get the support it needs ❤

I have liked your videos a lot, and I like this one, too. You tell the truth at a nice and kind way, thank you for that. The truth is, that we have always had enough of those "park chemists", "puistokemisti", and I have found that most of them are kind, though lost people who can not find their way here in our reality. I feel pity of them and also people close to them. 💔 Please keep doing your videos!

Very important video 👍

I think this video was really good. I think we should talk more openly about drug and alcohol use in Finland and how we could improve these problems. Alcohol use is just too normalised in Finnish culture and it causes a lot problems.

Our family visits finland every summer because we are finnish and many of our neighbors there are alcohol addicts, drinking all day and night. One of them died of alcohol poisoning. It's very different from here in sweden, despite being neighbor countries.

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Hi Daiki. I appreciate you for being very honest and telling us the other side of Finland. Thank you for citing many credible sources and statistics too. Fortunately homelessness is not an issue in Finland.

That is so true.

Hella ton of people still drink in public transportation, I see almost everytime I go with pt that someone opens a can, stinks of alcohol or something worse. I live in Espoo

To my knowledge, since 2018/2019, the main drug consumed were pharmaceutical smuggled from West-South Europe. These basically legal, medications is sold with prescription in Finland but not abroad. The side effects are similar to opioids when overdosed. I remember two main drugs were smuggled on the black market. Millions of euros if these medications were sold monthly. Probably still are…

I like foreigners showing the dark sides of the country. All countries have their problems. I've seen the drug problem getting worse when I compare 10 years ago. I dont live in Helsinki so this is a nation wide issue

People should seek for the good chemicals including dopamine and oxytocin through real life relationship and exercise. They should not seek for stimulants and sedation.

Do you think the alcoholism issue is also a problem in Norway? Not sure if you have any idea or insights to that. I tried to look up the same statistics but it may be hard to compare that "apples to apples" in two countries.....

I just bought you a coffee, Daiki san! Would you please make a video about obesity in Finland? Do you think people are only in good shape in summer months?

By the way, Daiki, how was your Salsa dance class? Do you think you can dance in nightclubs better now?

Drug and alcohol usage is high cause especially in smaller cities there isn’t much to do during the winter than sit inside and drink or so drugs

フィンランドの裏も持ち出すのは大切だと思いますね。またよく作られたビデオです！

Good video to raise some awareness! I think armed robberies/murders related to drugs are on the rise as well here. Sad how so many people just aren’t doing good…

The joke goes like this. Finland is the happiest country because all the sad people off themselves. Which is kinda true to some extend. I am a finnish person, i have lived in this country for over 20 years since birth. The reason why finland is happiest country is mostly because they are satisfied with how things are but are not satisfied with themselves. And due to finland having alcoholism literally in the culture, many will do too many pints. Drug usage is also somewhat on a rise, i have seen it with my own two eyes, luckily it's mostly Mariuahana or nuuska (these are obvious terrible but could be soooooooo much worse)

I dodged drug abuse by luck. I didn't like the "downers coma" from opiates and such. So I stepped off the train when when my friends started to do iv shit and stuff. downside of this is that I had to cut ties with basically with all my former friends.So now I now have no friends and a bad reputation.

Might be inappropriate, may you tell what is the industry you are working in as you mentioned medical test was taken? And what kind of education did you pursue in Finland?

Thank you for showing the other side from Finland. I want to emigrate to Finland within several years and it’s very good to also see the dark side. Btw, the user rooms ( for alcohol and drugsuse) works very well in my country ( the Netherlands) also increased taxes on alcohol does not work, imho. People are addicted so when they can’t pay for it they will steal and more homeless criminals will be on the streets.

As a US citizen, I can tell you that facilitating drug use merely results in more drug use. The same has held true for Canada.

Finnish alcohol consumption is European average in all categories. Finns like to drink in public which contributes to this myth about Finns drinking a lot.

Alcohol is the big weakness of Finland. 86% of all violence in Finland is alcohol-related. Example of usual case, a drunken man gets a new drinking friend from a bar, then at some point in the night at one of their homes they start fighting while heavily drunk and one of the men ends up stabbing the other one to death.

Isolation or feeling of being isolated causes people to use drugs.

Most Finnish people are fortunately aware of these problems and many Finnish people don't really agree at all that Finland is the happiest country in the world. It seems like an exaggeration in my opinion.

Hmm the alcohol tax is indeed high but it doesnt really do anything

I hope most addict get Healthcare. Shaming is not the answer, we need science

光が強いと闇が深くなるよね。だからって平均に持っていくのもどうかと思う。それとも安定したから闇ができるのかな？普段のほのぼのした感じから急に転調した社会派な感じも、笑ってる最中に引っ叩かれた感じで考えさせる要素にプラスに働いて良かったです！ジャーナリストDAIKIも楽しみにしてます。

Here in Norway, we have something called "Pekka and Toivonen jokes, wich is basically about two made up/ fictive Finnish guys who always ends up getting drunk rather than actually talk to each other when they are together. Kinda ironic, considering the fact the fact that we Norwegians are a bunch of drunk heads ourself. To sum it up: when we Norwegians joke about the Swedes, they are portrayed as stupid, but when we joke about the Finnish on the other hand, they are portrayed as alcoholics.

It would be impossible to keep a vlog about daily life in Finland without mentioning alcohol abuse. I was 18 in 2004 when the alcohol tax was reduced by like 30% and it made EVERYBODY drink like there was no tomorrow. Illegal drugs were also harder to come by back then so alcohol was the only option if you wanted a buzz. These both combined made my generation go down in history as the drunkest youngsters Finland has ever seen.

You could help the government to fight this issue. I think they are more ready to listen to the foreigners than us Finns.

This is a. issue almost everywhere… unfortunately.

my experience is trying to avoid Sörnäinen when going out in Helsinki

Thanks for talking about this issue. There needs to be more policing in the problem areas, which disperses the drug dealers, thiefs, criminals, bike thiefs etc. (which are all typically drug addicts). Most of the Finnish crime and theft is related to drug users, and more and more violence is related to them too. Traditionally the alcohol has been the number one addiction problem in Finland, but drugs are becoming more and more common and thus a bigger problem. The people whom you filmed here were also drug addicts, not alcoholics. They are called "sekakäyttäjä" in Finnish, i.e. "mixed user". What is almost completely lacking in public discussion is the perspective of the drug addicts' victims. They not only cause harm and distress to their relatives, but also to every people around them. They pretty much ruin apartment blocks and neighbourhoods, as there is so much crime and disturbance related to them. They can be dangerous and they do a lot of crime (not all of them, but significant amount of them), but most of all, they act as "occupying forces" wherever they are. The local residents near Kurvi can call the police, but it does not help. The addicts occupy their parks, yards, playgrounds, streets and other places. They are not "harmless". Helsinki is portraying itself as some sort of a "success story" about getting rid of homelessness, but that comes at a terrible cost to the local residents and other people. The addicts' housing services and other drug addict services are way too concentrated in Helsinki, and there is not enough police around. This leads to lawlessness and large number of drug addicts roaming around in certain areas. Helsinki has made it too easy to move in from anywhere in Finland - and then they will give a place to live for the new resident addict, often from the expensive areas where even many "normal" people cannot afford to live. The media is not covering the issue well and in fact it is hiding the concerns of local residents. Sometimes they mention the problems the local businesses face with the drug addicts. People are not honest about it: they want to say that other people are not nice if they want to get rid of the drug addicts in their neighbourhood, but they would certainly not want them to their neighbourhood. Helsinki needs to start dispersing the housing and drug addict services to a much wider area and to places where many people don't live such as medical facilities, industrial areas, large parks or forests etc. Now the city officials have put the drug addict services to the MOST DENSELY populated areas in Helsinki and the whole Finland. That does not make any sense! One more thing: preventing people from starting to use drugs is much easier and cost'-effective than to make them stop using permanently. We need to put more resources to that and simple measures that influence drug availability, such as street trade of drugs. Now most children will find drugs easier to buy than alcohol, if they know which place to go! There is no easy solution, but at least we would need to start being honest in the public and private discussion in Finland. I don't think we are: many people have a twisted perception that making everything (drugs, alcohol) more available would somehow reduce the problems! That is dangerous thinking, especially in an addiction-prone country such as Finland!

i hate piritori. i don't feel it as threatening, it's just the shittiest location i know

In my honest opinion i think making weed legal could help alot. Since if its legal its much more likely that people will use it instead of hard drugs, and it makes you more calm and friendly, there could also be like a license that you have to get, proving you are (medically/mentally) fit to use it. By making it legal the government could also have full oversight on the process instead of criminals. Also its a better option than alcohol health wise. Many modern western countries are doing this with good results. But i understand if anyone disagrees.

I drink mostly non alcoholic drinks and i don't use drugs.

A lot of other social issues are not being discussed since alcohol is something so normalized somehow. Thus, many Finns experience shame due to this. Domestic violence and homelessness are not being taken into consideration as they should. Many other social issues are not being discussed since the main focus is on these two topics. Many reasons for alcoholism and drug addiction are loneliness and poor mental health due to trauma.

Gangs and gun violence has also increased lately. maybe these things are connected with the drugs

Finland's alcohol consumption has dropped drasticly down in 10 years. Watch the statistics in the video " country alcohol consumption comparison". Finland's alcohol consumption is average. Finland's alcohol consumption has dropped down particularly among young ppl. Also using drugs is not that high comparing to other countries.

Kännis niil on rohkeutta polttaa kannabista mut sit sekin usein virhe ni sit ne tietty nukahtaa kun siihen kännin päälle menevät polttelemaan :DDD

The idea of "consumption rooms" is absurd! It's the same idea that someone who wants to harm themselves but under supervision.... I can see why a Finnish leader was asked to do a drug test.