Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin goes through drugs test after party video caused a stir
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Friday that she had been tested for drugs following the release of a video this week showing that she was partying with friends and vowed she had never taken any illegal drugs.
Marin, 36, also stated that her ability to perform his official duties had remained intact on the Saturday in question and that she would have quit the party had she been required to work.
Marin’s video clips celebrating influential and well-known Finnish artists began to air on social media this week and they were quickly published by a number of media outlets in Finland and abroad.
“Over the last few days, there have been serious public charges that I was in a place where the drugs were being used or that I took drugs on my own,” Marin told a press conference.
“I consider these charges very seriously and, although I consider the request for a drug test unfair for my own legal protection and to dispel any doubt, I took a drug test today that will be available in about a week.”
Marín, who became the youngest head of government in the world in December 2019 had faced calls from members of his government coalition as well as the opposition to undergo a drug test after the videos had appeared.
Social Democrat leader Marin said that she had never used drugs and that she had never seen anyone using them at the party she was attending.
While many praised Marin for combining her challenging work with active privacy others questioned her decision to let herself be filmed even when she was promised that the videos would not be made public.
At a time when Europe was disrupted by the Russian war in Ukraine, Marin also faced criticism that her party might interfere with her capabilities to carry out his functions rapidly in case of sudden crisis in Finland.
“If there were a crisis situation, I would know before midnight on a Saturday night,” she told the journalists, adding that the Finnish armed forces were well equipped to foresee any military crisis that could affect the country.
Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, has asked, neighboring Sweden, to join NATO after the Ukrainian war.