Drug monitoring will start to take place once a year.

Due to budget cuts, the Ministry of Justice has decided to discontinue the quarterly drug monitoring surveys, and in the future, the prevalence of drugs will be studied on only one day per year. According to the National Institute for Health Development (TAI), chemically objective information on drug prevalence is necessary because the Estonian drug market is so volatile that even users themselves are often unaware of what they are actually consuming.

The state has limited options for monitoring drug prevalence. One important method is wastewater-based epidemiology. Since 2022, samples have been taken quarterly from 13 Estonian cities to map drug use trends.

"The main trends show that three substances dominate our market: cannabis, amphetamine, and cocaine. These have been found in all cities in each of the four times a year that we have conducted surveys," explained Krister Tüllinen, Criminal Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Justice.

However, a comparison of data from the last two years clearly shows a rapid increase in amphetamine residues in Võru and Valga. Thanks to the monitoring surveys, confirmation has also been obtained regarding the emergence of new, potent synthetic drugs on the market.

"For several quarters, we did not have alpha-PVP, a synthetic opioid, on our market. But now, in this quarter, it was found in almost half of the cities," Tüllinen gave as an example.

Last week, the ministry announced the suspension of monitoring surveys, but on Friday, it was reported that in the future, the survey would be conducted only once a year. Katri Abel-Ollo, a researcher at the National Institute for Health Development, is hesitant about this change.

"Perhaps the advantage is that if they do it in 13 cities, it provides a broader picture, but one day can be very relative. It needs to be timed very well – whether that day is in summer, autumn, or during Christmas. I am not very familiar with the background, but the choice of day is crucial," said Katri Abel-Ollo, Head of the Drug Monitoring Department at TAI.

TAI itself also studies drug prevalence, but their samples are taken twice a year over a week and are limited to Tallinn and Tartu. Last year, an exception was made for Rakvere, which received the title of "cocaine capital" based on the wastewater monitoring survey from a year ago. According to Abel-Ollo, this is a good example of the importance of the day's selection, as TAI's survey yielded different results.

"When we had the week-long period, we looked at the cocaine indicators for Rakvere, but the Ministry of Justice's indicator for the last quarter was again significantly higher. Apparently, the selected day coincided with something not so typical in Rakvere," Abel-Ollo explained.

"The problem of timing the day correctly has always existed. This problem, due to the fact that we do it once a year instead of four times a year, has been and will continue to be a problem. It certainly does not make the survey and the data unreliable," noted Tüllinen.

Police have so far used wastewater-based epidemiology to gain an overview of what is happening among users and to identify the most problematic areas and substances.

"If this were the only source once a year, then the overview of the drug market would certainly be insufficient. But since we compare it with other data and actively collect information ourselves, it is actually quite adequate for us," confirmed Rait Pikaro, Head of the Narcotics Department of the Northern Prefecture.

Avaldatud 25/04/2025