Gateway theory in Finland: From cannabis decriminalisation to legalising all drugs

By Aleksi Hupli / Drugreporter

A citizens’ initiative in Finland aiming to decriminalise cannabis gathered the required 50,000 signatures at the end of 2019.

The initiative, if accepted by the Finnish parliament, would make adult use, possession, and small scale growing of cannabis (up to 4 plants) no longer a criminal offense. The campaign for the initiative was implemented by the Finnish Cannabis Association.

The same week that the government of Norway presented their plan to decriminalise all drugs, there was an expert hearing at the Finnish parliamentary law committee on 17th of February 2021. The public hearing was supposed be broadcast live, but failed due to an unexpected technical difficulty. Finnish Parliament later released a partial video recording of the hearing (done via Microsoft Teams), which did not include the first 30 minutes.