Estonian police confiscate 450 grams of "White Chinese"?

It used to be said you could freely smoke marijuana on Tallinn streets, because the police had no idea what it was. Well, times have changed, and you can be sure Estonian police now know about marijuana—but Estonia still isn’t the most drug-savvy nation around. The first indication would be the press’ translation of fentanyl as “White Chinese.” While it sounds like human trafficking, what they meant was “China White,” which anyone who’s seen a Hollywood movie knows is a narcotic, one often indistinguishable from heroin in its effects.

The good news is this: the Estonian central criminal police last week detained a man with 450 grams in his possession. Central criminal police director Rene Berting said it is seldom large amounts of “White Chinese” are discovered at one time and confiscating even ten grams is an achievement. Last year, the largest single amount confiscated was 760 grams. This week’s confiscated amount equates to about 15,000 dosages with a street price of at least one million kroons (64,000 euros). If you’d like to compare the results of Estonia’s narcotics police with those of your country’s police, here’s a handy scorecard (2005 amounts):

Cocaine, 43 kilos

Hashish, 35 kilos

GHB, 20 liters

Amphetamine production labs discovered: 4