STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS in Jyväskylä are preparing a joint conversation-opening statement for local bars to improve safety policies and the flow of information in scenarios in which a person suspects they’ve been drugged or feel unsafe in the establishment in general.

Kristo Keidas, the chair of Enne ry, an organization supporting the wellbeing of students in higher education, says that the goal is not to make accusations against the bars, but to improve communication between parties.

”During some conversations, however, it has come up that many students haven’t contacted the right authorities, such as the bar itself, the police, or healthcare services, due to a lack of knowledge.”

The conversation-opening statement is still in its early phase, but for instance, Lauri Välimäki, the chair of Pedaali, the subject organization for music education students, states that the values and the purpose of the statement are important to Pedaali. According to Välimäki, Pedaali has a positive stance towards signing the statement, once it’s finalised.

It’s a phenomenon that’s difficult to put into numbers.

Aukusti Heilakka, the chair of Jyy

SEVERAL SUBJECT associations have commented that suspected drugging cases reported by students have increased in 2026. However, the extent of the phenomenon is difficult to track due to the lack of statistics. The organizations themselves don’t keep track of these reports. The Student Union of the University of Jyväskylä (Jyy) doesn’t have such a register either, and there are currently no plans to make one.

”It’s a phenomenon that’s difficult to put into numbers”, says Aukusti Heilakka, the chair of Jyy.

”One hears about such cases often, but through unofficial channels. The challenge for Jyy is to figure out what would be a meaningful role to take if a drugging happens during nightlife, outside of Jyy’s official events. At the moment we’re trying to figure out how we could help the members of the union and the organizations through communication, for example.”

Additionally, not all of the suspected druggings lead to a police report or proper testing. Suspected druggings are difficult to verify after the fact, because the testing needs to be done soon after the event, as some substances leave the body within hours.

The nightclubs Club Escape and Freetime say that no suspected druggings this spring have been brought to their attention.

”The safety of the nightclub is extremely important to us, and we work constantly to maintain that”, says Joonas Pikkarainen, the restaurant group director of NoHo Partners. NoHo owns Club Escape.

DETECTIVE CHIEF inspector Annukka Liukkonen from the Central Finland Police Department says that from the police’s point of view, drugging cases are not on the rise, and they are, in fact, relatively rare. In Central Finland, there have been only isolated cases over the past few years.

”Of course it’s possible that a lot of the cases remain in the territory of hidden crime. The percentage of solved cases like these is very low for several reasons. For example, during a night out, the exact timing for what happened is often difficult to determine, even if the healthcare system found out what substances may have entered the bloodstream”, Liukkonen says.

”If you suspect you’ve been drugged, it’s extremely important to immediately contact healthcare services and file a police report. Those are the primary ways to get the cases to the authorities and have them investigated straight away.”

The nightclubs Club Escape and Freetime back up the recommendations.

”If a customer suspects they’ve been drugged, or they witness any activity that would suggest this, they should also contact bar security”, adds Pasi Vihertola, the security and risk management expert of Freetime’s owner, Osuuskauppa Keskimaa.

THE SUSPECTED drugging cases became a topic of public conversation in early April when Lööppi ry, the subject association of journalism students of the University of Jyväskylä, posted a warning about suspected druggings on their Instagram account. The post urges students to party safely, not leave their drinks unattended, and seek aid immediately if they suspect they’ve been drugged.▬