THE SOCIAL MIRROR

A very disturbing thing happened to me and to my mom recently that I wanted to share with you guys.

Couple of days ago, as me and my mom were entering the entrance of her building, we saw a man lying on the ground while another man was injecting him with a needle to his neck artery. We were shocked. After a few minutes the two men stood up carelessly and went away. 

Unfortunately, that was not the first time it happens. 

Last summer, in the same place, a group of four people were passing around a needle and injecting themselves. We were horrified, and we called the police. We were waiting for the police for half an hour, but nobody showed up. The junkies were still there, waiting for the drugs getting to their system. We called the police again and were surprised with their answer. They asked if the junkies are harming us in any way, we said no, we are not getting close to them while they needle themselves, obviously. So, they replied they don’t have enough man power to send there and there is nothing to do.

Well, this is Finland, one of the most developed countries in the world and the level of careless amazed me. For more than 20 years I lived in my home country and I had never been exposed to any kind of drug use. I’m not here to complain about the police work, even though it was odd. I think there is room for a change when it comes to public awareness of alcoholism and drug use to teenagers and adults as one. What surprises me in here, is the number of alcoholics and drug users among adults. When you see it among teenagers, most of us think and hope it is because peer pressure or some rebel phase, but I never saw so many grownups acting this way.

In many countries, there are all kinds of campaigns against drinking and using drugs, that for some reason I haven’t been exposed in Finland.

This is a very peaceful country and the level of crime, on my observance, is lower than other countries. I think it's the government responsibility to increase that awareness, not the police, the police have enough work already nowadays. 

Do you agree or not? any thoughts?