Finland is grappling with a sharp rise in the trafficking and use of alpha-PVP, a highly potent psychoactive narcotic, with seizures of the drug more than 16 times higher in 2024 compared to 2020, according to a Wednesday press release from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Data from the NBI’s Forensic Laboratory shows that over 8 kilograms of alpha-PVP—known locally by the street name “peukku”—were seized this year, a stark increase from less than 500 grams in 2020. Seizures totaled just under 5 kilograms in 2023 and under 6 kilograms in 2024, signaling a worrying upward trend. Most confiscations have occurred in regions policed by the Helsinki, Eastern Uusimaa, Häme, and Central Finland departments.
Classified as a narcotic in Finland since late 2013, alpha-PVP is the country’s most prevalent new psychoactive substance and has long been used recreationally. Wastewater monitoring by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) indicates its use has spiked in the Helsinki metropolitan area since early 2022, where its presence is particularly visible on city streets.
The drug’s effects are severe: it induces agitation, paranoid psychosis, violent behavior, confusion, and cognitive impairment. With single doses ranging from 1 to 25 milligrams (depending on administration), alpha-PVP carries a high overdose risk and is comparable in danger to amphetamine and methamphetamine.
NBI Chief Superintendent Tuomas Pöyhönen highlighted critical factors driving its spread. “Alpha-PVP often replaces or is used alongside amphetamine—the longstanding drug of choice among Finnish abusers—which has fueled its popularity,” he explained. Its versatility in use—via smoking, vaporization, injection, snorting, oral absorption, ingestion, and even vaping with e-cigarettes—also contributes, as “vaping may attract new users and experimentation,” Pöyhönen noted, potentially boosting demand and supply, and influencing prices.
Law enforcement faces complex challenges, as alpha-PVP is often smuggled by international criminal networks that produce it in foreign labs and distribute it through highly organized local networks, with members assigned specific roles in transportation, storage, distribution, and money collection. The NBI has also uncovered cases of domestic production or preparation, involving imported precursor chemicals.
“The police are part of a broader effort to address substance abuse, focusing on crime prevention, security, and investigations,” Pöyhönen emphasized. Authorities have stepped up street surveillance and online monitoring of drug trafficking, but Pöyhönen acknowledged that narcotic-related issues “have no simple solution” and require multi-agency collaboration.
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