CANNABIS CASE PUTS 39 HELSINKI YOUTH ON TRIAL

Hashish Sold Among Friends Sometimes At Cost Price

A total of 39 young people from southern Helsinki were sitting in a very
crowded dock at Helsinki District Court on Thursday facing charges of
distributing and using cannabis. Most of the defendants were between the
ages of 17 and 22.

The group have become known in the Finnish media as the "Eira Mafia", named
according to the Eira district of Helsinki where many of them live.
However, the image that the kids in the courtroom projected is quite far
removed from any Mafia stereotypes.

The defendants appeared to be quite ordinary looking boys and young men in
name-brand clothes. Some of the defendants go to school or university,
others have jobs, some are in the army and some are unemployed. Only five
of the group had been remanded in custody.

The charges involved different degrees of use, possession, and sale of
hashish. Five of the defendants only faced charges of using an illegal
drug. The others were charged with ordinary or serious drug crimes -
involving sale. In the case of cannabis, the border between an ordinary and
a serious drug crime is one kilo of hashish.

Media coverage of the case has focused on the fact that the defendants do
not fit the image that many people have of hardened drug criminals. In
spite of their collective nickname, there is no indication that any of the
members of the "Eira Mafia" have used violence or committed any crimes
beyond their actual involvement with an illegal drug.

The distribution activity was apparently largely limited to sharing
cannabis among mutual friends, with the sellers often making no profit.

However, the police, who are still investigating the case, believe that the
group may have sold cannabis to as many as 200 people in three different
cities outside Helsinki.

The actual amount of drugs involved is much smaller than in many other
recent high-profile drug cases: according to prosecutor Tove Myhrberg,
about 30 kilos of hashish were sold from the spring of 2000 until the
autumn of last year.

In addition, some of the members of the group are believed to have been
involved in the sale of about 700 ecstasy tablets, as well as small-scale
dealings in marijuana, amphetamine, and cocaine.

In court the young defendants mostly admitted their guilt. The defendants
were required to enter their pleas standing up, and some forgot to take off
their caps.

One defendant said that he initially bought quantities of hashish of a few
dozen grammes each from a friend in the summer and autumn of 2001. Later
the quantities rose to more than 200 grammes and the purchases became more
frequent. What he did not sell to his friends he smoked himself. His use
was almost daily.

As the trial was opening in Helsinki, Vantaa District Court handed down a
number of prison sentences in a drug distribution case that was partly
related to the "Eira Mafia" case.

The longest sentence - five years and four months in prison, was handed
down to a 23-year old Vantaa man who had reportedly supplied several kilos
of hashish to three of the defendants in the Helsinki case.

Previously in HS International Edition: Teenagers' drug sales network
uncovered (11.1.2002)