GROSSWEEDEN - The police in Lauenburg county checked cars leaving the "Ziegelei" club in Grossweeden last Saturday night between two and eight o'clock. 200 officers working four check points stopped a total of 1118 vehicles. 40 drivers had to submit to a blood test. Twelve drivers were found to be intoxicated from drinking too much alcohol. In 95 cases, charges for drug posession were filed. Quantities of heroin, cocaine, Extasy [sic] and cannabis were confiscated. This was the first time for the police to use the drug detection device "Drugwipe", which detects drugs in sweat. [end]
BERLIN: Germany’s Parliament yesterday legalised drug injection rooms that have sprouted in German cities to provide addicts with clean needles, reversing a policy upheld by the former conservative government. The upper house approved a compromise law that won crucial support from some conservative-led states by emphasising that addicts who get the needles also need counselling. The lower house had passed the measure on Friday. Authorities have tolerated 13 so-called "shooting galleries" in major German cities for some time, but the rooms have been technically illegal. [continues 171 words]
BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's lower house of parliament legalized ``injection rooms'' for drug addicts Thursday against the opposition of conservatives who argued that users need treatment instead. If approved by the upper house Friday, the measure passed by the governing center-left coalition would reverse a German drug control policy that has stood for years. Authorities have tolerated 13 so-called ``shooting galleries'' in major German cities for some time, but the rooms -- where heroin addicts can pick up clean needles and inject themselves with the narcotic -- technically are illegal. [continues 98 words]
Frankfurt/Main (dpa) -- The Frankfurt police have achieved a sweeping blow against Kosovo-Albanian Heroin dealers. In close cooperation with other European countries they have arrested 77 involved persons, police reported yesterday. Five of the arrested are thought to be leading heads of the drug ring. [end]
HAMBURG, Germany, Dec 29 (Reuters) - A computer hacker turned a staid German police Internet page into a site promoting marijuana and pleasure toys for sadists, a spokesman said on Wednesday. ``I don't find this funny at all,'' said Adalbert Halt, a spokesman for the police union in the German state of Hessen whose site was altered. The hacker, whose identity is unknown, changed information about the regional police offered on the Web site to advertise a ``marijuana cafe'' and a ``sado shop.'' Police undid the changes later in the day. [end]
BERLIN, Aug 28 (Reuters) - More than 50,000 people took part in Berlin's third annual ``Hemp Parade'' on Saturday, taking to the streets of the German capital to call for the legalisation of cannabis. Carrying posters urging politicians to legalise the drug, the demonstrators called for a relaxation of laws on its possession. ``The German law is stupid in many points and we are demanding complete legalisation...for medical and recreational uses,'' said Martin Muencheberg, a press spokesman for the parade's organisers. [continues 134 words]
FRANKFURT - police said Friday that at least 25 border guards based in the western town of Frankfurt were being investigated on suspicion of drug-trafficking. Chief police investigator Jochen Zahn told a news conference that the border police officers based at the city's international airport and downtown railway station were suspected of dealing in cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, and marijuana. "It can not be ruled out that other border guards aren't also involved," he said. Three of the suspects, all aged between 20 and 25, have been remanded in custody pending trial. [continues 171 words]
Worried about a national rise in drug-related deaths, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet approved a bill Wednesday that would allow states to set up centers where heroin addicts could go for a safe fix. Christa Nickels, the government's drugs policy adviser, said the proposed law would clear up a legal grey area for street workers who ''stand with one leg in jail when they provide survival help.'' She noted that the number of deaths related to consumption of illegal drugs rose to 798 in the first half of 1999, compared to 735 in the same period last year. [continues 98 words]
There are no ‘magic keys’ - Most addicts are dependent on alcohol. Writing in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten (http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de) Frank Schwaibold reports that most addicts are dependent on alcohol. (Translator’s note: this could come as a surprise to those who maintain that "There is no such thing as an illness called ‘alcoholism’.) Stuttgart - In Baden-Wuerttemberg there are around 420,000 addicts, 60% of whom are dependent on alcohol. In 1997, according to figures published in the 1996/98 addiction report, 1644 deaths resulted from the excessive consumption of alcohol. (Full report available at the website given above.) ............. The same paper (and others) carry reports of the 'cocaine scandal' reported in 'The Times' (of London), (and in glaring headlines in the mainline UK newspapers,) involving Prince Edward's close friend, Tom Parker-Bowles. It is reported that 'The Queen is not amused'. [end]
(Translator's note: The following might be used to support an appeal to the churches to adopt a more truly Christian stance. They have been getting a free ride. It is time they were targeted, in my opinion.) Wilfried Goebels writes in the 'Aachener Zeitung' (http://www.aachener-zeitung.de) on the withdrawal of the CDU from its hard-line position against heroin distribution. Duesseldorf. The CDU is pulling back from its sharp rejection of so-called ‘fixing rooms’ for hard-core addicts. At a drug conference in Duesseldorf on Monday, leading representatives of the state and federal caucuses supported a prejudice-free discussion of fixing rooms and state controlled heroin distribution to hard-core addicts. [continues 322 words]
BERLIN - The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called Tuesday for cigarettes and other tobacco products to be regulated like pharmaceuticals. Gro Harlem Brundtland told an international conference in Berlin the content of cigarettes should be subject to the same controls as those applied to food products and drugs. ``The time has now come for concerted regulation of tobacco products,'' she said in the text of her speech issued in Geneva. Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister, said agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should have tobacco products within their remit. [continues 182 words]
DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUGS REJECTED - EXPERTS PLEAD FOR REFORM OF THE DRUG LAWS Hannover/Magdeburg (dpa) - Jost Leune, the executive director of the Hannover based professional association of drug and addiction specialists, categorically rejects decriminalsiation of soft drugs. "That would reduce criminality but would do nothing to fight the addiction problem," he said. At the same time he would like to see a reform of the drug laws. "One way would be to set up drug courts as we have young people’s courts which could be functioning in a very short time. The members of the association are meeting in Magdeburg on Monday for a three day national congress. [continues 87 words]
The Frankfurter Neue Presse http://www.rhein-main.net/ for 14 April 99 carried the following brief but significant report: Other Towns, Same Concerns: Criminality and Drugs Frankfurt - Criminality and drugs are also a big problem in Oslo. A delegation from Oslo's capital city led by Mayor Fritz Huitfeld and Police Vice-President Roger Andresen is here to find out more on the methods adopted to solve Frankfurt's criminality and drug problems. In numerous conversations, amongst others with Police President Wolfhard Hoffmann, the measures adopted by Frankfurt to deal with big city crime, above all with drug crime problems, were explained to the guests. Yesterday evening Mayor Petra Roth (CDU) entertained her opposite number from Oslo. In the course of these talks it transpired that Oslo also has the same besetting problems with drug related crime committed by foreigners as well as by 'strolling players'. Frankfurter Neue Presse 1999 [end]
The 'Stuttgarter Zeitung' (http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de) was one of a number of German, Austrian and Swiss papers which carried reports of Germany's health minister speaking in Bonn last Monday, (March 22, 1999) on the subject of 'Marihuana as Medicine'. BONN Germany’s drug czar, Christa Nickels (Greens), considers it sensible to use Cannabis products such as marihuana and hashish for therapeutic purposes in medicine. Speaking exclusively of marihuana as a natural herb, she said it had shown itself to be "a potentially successful therapy in the treatment of AIDS, MS and cancer sufferers" and is "more cost effective than synthetic substitutes". "Marihuana as a freely accessible drug is a different question," she said. A professional association of doctors also announced the call for "Cannabis as medicine," and protested the denial of marihuana prescription rights to doctors. [end]
BONN, - The number of deaths from illegal drug use in Germany in 1998 rose nearly 12 percent to 1,674 people, a report from the government's narcotics agency said on Monday. The numbers of Germans using hard drugs increased last year, with the numbers of first-time users up 1.7 percent at 20,943. "There was also an increase in the number of first-time users of hard drugs," said Christa Nickels, state secretary responsible for drug- related issues. [continues 167 words]
The Stuttgarter Nachrichten, (http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de) whilst acknowledging the slight decrease in the number of drug related fatalities, points to the fact that every fourth victim was previously a member of a methadone subsititute program. Instead of the ‘golden shot’, the use of medication and alcohol is the chief cause of death amongst drug addicts. The number of emergency interventions in Stuttgart rose to 113 in 1998 and the number of fatalities from 15 to 25. ………… The Frankfurter Neue Presse (http://www.rhein-main.net) comments on the figures recently released by the federal health ministry which show that more than a quarter of all those aged 18-24 have tried marihuana. That makes it, according to Wolfgang Schmidt, executive secretary of the state office for drug consultation, the ‘most widely used illegal drug’. In the introduction to a new info-brochure titled "Is Marihuana a Sin Then?" he acknowledges that horror stories don’t work. We are trying to reach people with informaation which "will enable them to assess the degree of risk associated with the use of illegal drugs." [continues 85 words]
Several papers report positively on the softening of the hitherto CDU hard line policy on state distribution of heroin to hard core addicts. The Austrian 'Der Standard' (http://derstandard.at) is one of several which give positive reviews of Austrian drug policy as reflected in the Health Minister's drug report. Minister Lore Hostasch, attributes the reduction in drug mortalities and other positive aspects of the report to the policy of emphasizing healing over punishment. ........ Joseph Schorn writing in the Salzburger Nachrichten: (http//www.salzburg.com/zeitung) comparing Austria's drug pollicies with those of the US, and some of the other European states, also takes a forward looking, positive view: [continues 509 words]
The Swiss edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (http://www.nzz.ch) reports as under on the "Expansion of Heroin Trial in Holland": The Netherlands parliament decided on Wednesday that the scientific experiment with the distribution of heroin to hard core addicts under strict medical supervision can be expanded. 50 addicts have been treated in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It has since been established that the injection rooms presented no significant disturbance in the immediate area and will be expanded to include the Hague, Utrecht and Heerlen. The projected number of participants is now set at round 750. [continues 267 words]
Der Standard (Austria) (http://derstandard.at) speaks of two new political parties in Israel. Outside the new movements arising from the classical political base, there is also the 'Natural Law' party, which will loose a flood of 'gravitating yogis' to spread harmony through transcendental meditation. The only goal of the 'Green Leaf' party, on the other hand, is to achieve recognition of the right of coffee-shops to sell cannabis. .......... The Berlin Courier (http://www.berlinonline.de/aktuelles/berliner_kurier) speaks in positive terms of the 'last chance' for Berlin's 8,000 junkies: free heroin distribution to specially selected participants. Federal Health Minister Fischer sees it as a last hope for hard core heroin addicts who would otherwise die. Four teams with doctor, nurse, psychologist and social workers will look after the addicts' needs, supplying them with heroin twice a day and advice as requested. Cost to the state: round 50 Marks per person per day. [continues 550 words]
The Stuttgarter Zeitung (http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de) is one of a number of newspapers which give reports on the reluctant softening of the CDU attitude: they will no longer set their faces against state controlled heroin injection rooms, provided they are run under ‘very tight supervision’. ………… In the Rheinische Post (http://www.rp-online.de), Goekcen Stenzel reports on the projected Duesseldorf injection rooms. These will be set up in the neighborhood of an emergency medical center where specialized help will be available. At a cost of 1.6 million Marks, a team of 7 psychiatric nursing aids, 6 social workers and one administrative assistant will be on-call. Under no circumstances will the injection of street heroin of uncertain strength and purity be allowed. The direction will follow closely the model of the methadone clinics with medical supervision capable of responding to any emergency. [continues 119 words]
DUSHANBE, January 17 (Itar-Tass) - Several thousand dollars worth of computers and other equipment were donated by the German federal criminal police to the Tajik commission on narcotic drugs. The donation was passed over to Tajikistan by ambassador Mathias Meyer on Saturday. The ambassador hopes that the equipment will help Tajik police officers to expose more drug peddlers. Other countries are ready to help the Tajik services on narcotic drugs as well. That was said by Director of the Central Asian Office of the U.N. Program on International Drug Control Bogdan Lisovic during his visit to Tajikistan. In his words, 1.5 million dollars were allocated to the Tajik commission on narcotic drugs last year to strengthen its material and technical base. This year, donors will give 8 million dollars to the United Nations to reinforce the Tajik-Afghan border and create the so-called safety belt. [end]
BONN -- Germany's main doctors' association rejected a suggestion by the nation's health minister to allow pharmacies to sell small amounts of soft recreational drugs. Andrea Fischer, health minister in the new center-left government, floated the idea this week, saying it could keep casual users from moving to more dangerous substances by "separating the markets for soft and hard drugs." Karsten Vilmar, head of the German Chamber of Doctors, disagreed. He called the proposal "a false liberalization" that would give a state stamp of approval to drug use and actually lead more young people into addiction. - --- Checked-by: Richard Lake [end]
BERLIN, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Sports doctor Bernd Pansold was convicted and fined by a Berlin court on Monday as the first trial to put former East Germany's doping policy under the spotlight came to an end. Pansold, the last of six officials of the swimming section of Berlin club SC Dynamo to be judged, was handed a 14,400 marks ($8,600) fine. Like the others on trial, the 56-year-old, who was the club's head doctor, stood accused of having caused bodily harm to female swimmers by giving them banned drugs in the 1970s and 1980s. [continues 202 words]
BERLIN, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The first trial to put former East Germany's doping policy under the spotlight should come to an end with a verdict on Monday. Prosecutors have called for a 14,400 marks ($8,592) fine for Bernd Pansold, the last of six officials of the swimming section of Berlin club SC Dynamo to be judged. Pansold, 56, was the club's head doctor. Like the others on trial he is accused of having caused bodily harm to female swimmers by giving them banned drugs in the 1970s and 1980s. [continues 271 words]
Under the rubric of the "Lobby for the Addicted", doctors, judges, sociologists and spiritual advisers are again exerting pressure. On Wednesday, 11/25/98, a list of 600 signatures was handed in to the municipal council demanding medically necessary injection rooms and the distribution of prescribed heroin. The "Stuttgart Resolution" has cleared the way of obstacles for new drug policies. There is still opposition to be overcome, headed by federal social affairs minister Friedhelm Repnik(CDU). But, as addiction specialist Dr. Frank Matschinski confirmed, "Opiate distribution and injection will come, but not creeping in through the back door as was the case with synthetic drugs. [continues 67 words]
Experts Request The Legalisation Of Marihuana For The Chronically Ill Frankfurt - According to medical opinion, Hashish and marihuana in prescribed doses may help to improve the quality of life for the chronically ill and for those suffering from AIDS. They should be available on prescription just as the opiates are. This is what doctors attending the International 'Medical Marihuana' Congress in Frankfurt have requested. In most countries the prescription of cannabis products is forbidden . As Rainer Ullman, chairman of the German Society for Drug Addiction Therapy explained, the therapeutic effects of cannabis have been known for thousands of years. It is known to provide a measure of relief for MS patients who suffer from muscle cramps and spasticity; for cancer patients suffering from nausea and vomiting, and for the loss of appetite which is often one of the debillitating side-effects of cancer treatment. Cannabis has no such unpleasant side effects when prescribed in therapeutic doses. [continues 3 words]
Svenska Dagbladet, November 29. Germany who has for a long time been in the European forefront with a strict and inflexible drug policy is now turning toward a softer approach. Under its new government shall even heavy users of heroin be able to obtain the narcotic under prescription. "The German Government shall naturally not sell heroin. But we must realize that there are a small group of users that do not accept methadone. Those must have legal access to the real thing" says the Minister of Public Health, Environmentalist Andrea Fischer. [continues 354 words]
11 HIV Infected Every Minute Half of those infected with AIDS in 1998 are younger than 25 years old. The aids virus infects eleven new victims every 60 seconds. Half of the 5.8 million persons infected, according to the latest report from the UN AIDS Program, are between the ages of 15 and 24. The organisation will address the growing problem on Tuesday, designated 'World AIDS Day' 1998. "The problem is spreading like a bush-fire amongst the drug dependent youth of eastern Europe," says Bernhard Schwartlaender, UN AIDS Epidemiologist in Genf. Hardest hit is the Ukraine where the number of infected rose by 500 in the past year to 36,500. [continues 308 words]
Discussion To Be Uninhibited By `Ideological Blinkers' Bonn (AP). The federal drug czar, Christa Nickels, has asked for a debate on the acceptance of cannabis for use as a medicine. The discussion should be engaged without "ideological blinkers," she told the German Press Agency in Bonn on Sunday(11/29/98). "The suffering of patients with illnesses such as MS, Cancer or AIDS could be eased with cannabis," she said. "Cannabis is really a soft drug and has been classified as a prohibited substance along with the hard drugs. In past years its use as a medicine has not found broad acceptance because of the possibility of abuse." [continues 131 words]
But Senator Stahmer rejects setting up Injection Rooms BM Berlin - Berlin is looking forward to a change in drug policy: the controlled distribution of heroin to hard core addicts is no longer taboo. "I imagine Berlin will participate in a trial of such a model," Senator Ingrid Stahmer, (Socialist Party) told the Morning Post. This was her response to the offer made by the federal government Drug Czar, Christa Nickels (Green). According to the offer states will be able to set up controlled heroin distribution models. This was agreed to by the Red-Green Coalition. [continues 187 words]
55% OF SMUGGLED COCAINE WORLD WIDE BEING TRANSPORTED BY EXPRESS SERVICES According to German Customs authorities, private transport services are being used "to a considerable extent" for the international transport of illegal drugs. The trend is clear: according to current estimates the sharp rise in the use of Express services and the quick turn around in the exchange of goods has led to a lessening of risk. This in turn has led to the rise in demand for such services by international drug smugglers. [continues 257 words]
The `Red-Green' Way To A More Liberal Drug Policy What all the experts have been demanding for a long time is now a step closer. The `Red-Green' federal government will hold to a more liberal path in its drug policy than its predecessor. Proceeding on the principle that addiction is a sickness, the newly appointed federal `drug czar', Christa Nickels, will emphasize education and "Assistance not Punishment". Christa Nickels is satisfied. Her office has been transferred from the Home Office to the Department of Health. That sends the signal that drug policy will henceforth be based on a humanitarian, health model, and not a law enforcement model. [continues 98 words]
The ECDP (European Cities on Drug Policy) will bring together 3,500 international experts to take part in a workshop in which participants will exchange ideas with a view to bringing pressure to effect a change in the drug laws. Founded in 1990, it is supported by members' contributions with assistance from the European Union. Advice will be offered to those towns which feel themselves constricted by the drug laws. "If a Greek town wants to set up a methadone program but lacks the know-how, we help mediate the contacts," explained the executive director, Susanne Schardt. [continues 70 words]
Bonn (dpa) - Christa Nickels, the 46 year old former State Health Minister, has been appointed to the post of Federal 'Drug Czar'. She has announced that she will be tackling drug addiction as a health rather than a law enforcement problem. She will strengthen prevention measures and will put assistance before punishment. "Addicts are sick people. It is our duty to help them. The criminal prosecution of drug dealers will remain, however, an important task." She said a bill would be drafted to place 'injection rooms' on a legal basis. Provision would be made to supply emergency relief to a carefully chosen group, for whom access to counselling and therapy would be provided. She said she would also concern herself with health problems arising from addiction to alcohol and tobacco. - --- Checked-by: Richard Lake [end]
The district of Lorraech has made formal application to the Ministry of Health for permission to participate in the projected drug model which has recently been the subject of heated controversy. This was confirmed by the district office on Friday, 20 November 1998. The Catholic Workers Party recently asked for 50,000 marks for the planning of 'guest rooms,' also known as 'injection rooms,' for drug addicts. The Social Democrat delegate, Joerg Lutz, said there was still no such project in Baden-Wuerttemberg. [continues 66 words]
Afterwards the Bonn Coalition wants to alter the illegal drugs statute An 'Emergency Room' will be opened in Sshwabingen next summer. The Catholic party threatens to hold a referendum After nearly 2 years of heated controversy, a plan for a realistic way forward has been proposed. It hasnow been officially announced that an emergency room could open in Schwabigen as early as next summer. Andrea Fischer's announcement of legal 'Fixing Rooms' has sparked further discussion. This will require altering the law as it now stands. Up to this point such establishments in Frankfurt and Hamburg have operated in a 'grey zone'. [continues 122 words]
ALCOHOL FORBIDDEN TO YOUNG PEOPLE UNDER AGE 18 Elfriede Koller, federal minister for drug policy, has begun a campaign to focus public attention on the dangers associated with "legal drugs" such as alcohol. Everyone knows someone who drinks too much, she says "Everyone knows someone who knows someone who is an 'alkie'. Does that cause us to reflect? No! Nearly 1,000 people die of alcohol abuse in Berlin every year, not including traffic mortalities. Does anyone get excited about that? No!" [continues 136 words]
Precis: Another German politician has broken with his party's hard line on (the war on) drugs policy and has come down decisively on the side of a trial of the Swiss model of heroin distribution to hard core addicts. His reasons are two-fold: on compassionate grounds, (it is not humane to lock up sick people on ideological grounds); and because the Swiss model has proved conclusively that it works; that it reduces significantly the social harm caused by the hard line policy. [continues 242 words]
BONN (November 8, 1998 08:56 a.m. EST) - Germany's new government said it will study the case made for legalizing possession of small quantities of soft drugs such as cannabis. "We're certainly going to look at it. There have been some interesting essays on this and an EU report on it, too," Interior Minister Otto Schily told Spiegel news magazine in an article made available on Sunday. The ecologist Greens, junior partners in the new coalition, have long been in favor of decriminalizing the use of soft drugs but Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats have so far resisted such a move. [continues 60 words]
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - German scientists said on Tuesday they had found one reason why cocaine can cause a heart attack -- it causes production of excess amounts of a chemical that can choke off blood supply to the heart. Doctors know all too well that cocaine can overstimulate the heart and cause a heart attack. But they have not understood why -- or how to fight it. Writing in the journal Circulation, Dr. Rainer Arendt of the University of Munich and colleagues said they had pinned down one mechanism. [continues 196 words]
Traditional drug policy has failed. I believe we change the trend by prescribing heroin." This is not a legalise-it-disciple or a member of the Green party speaking, it is the police chief of the city of Bielefeld, Horst Kruse. Along with police chiefs and high-ranking medical officials, even conservative politicians nowadays demand a change in drug policy. A stock-taking on the occasion of today's German action day on drug policy. "And it does move, after all. Drug policy in Germany is currently loosening itself from a concrete and heavy inflexibility that lasted decades. The ideological walls are not yet broken, but they begin to crumble everywhere. The confession of faith that drug addicts could be cured with the forces of police and justice loses more and more of its faithful. [continues 763 words]
[followed by photos of the following people plus a statement from them:] Horst Kruse, Police chief Bielefeld: "Traditional drug policy has failed. I believe, heroin provieded by the state will initiate a change. Like it is in Zurich. Where drug addicts do not have to spend their time with chasing after drugs. Acquisitive criminality and offences form 20% of the all criminal offences which could then be curbed as well as social and health depravation. The problem of addiction would, of course, remain the same, but this is not to be solved by police efforts anyway." [continues 1001 words]
"The decision taken at the UN in 1990 was as ambitious as it was unworldly: the last decade of the 20th century should have been the ‘UN decade against drug misuse’. After a long debate, the UN diplomats passed a ‘global action programme’. The 100-topics-plan comprises the fight against smugglers, dealers, and money laundering, the eradication and prevention of poppy and coca cultivation as well as therapy measures for drug addicts. ‘An international drug free society’ was to be realised by the diplomats. [continues 1054 words]
German police chiefs joined medical experts and politicians yesterday in calling for an end to the war on drugs and the introduction of controlled distribution of heroin to addicts. A survey of parliamentarians showed support for a change in drug policy within all Germany's main parties. Campaigners for a new policy are confident that a change in government in September's federal election would herald a dramatic shift in official attitudes towards drugs - which could have a knock-on effect across Europe. [continues 317 words]
Heroin should be distributed to a select group of longstanding addicts, the German Medical Council unanimously decided last week. The council has now applied to the minister of justice to enable opiates to be legalised in a strictly medically controlled context. Dr Ingo Flenker, a member of the German Medical Council, said that the decision had been influenced by the recent results from Switzerland that showed the effectiveness of such an approach. Several other countries, including Australia, Denmark, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, are also considering following Switzerland's example. [continues 301 words]
BONN (Reuters) - Germany's opposition SPD ran for cover Monday after the Greens, their likeliest ally in any future government, demanded a threefold rise in gasoline tax, the end of NATO and the legalization of marijuana. Chancellor Helmut Kohl seized on the Green proposals for attack in an attempt to revive his flagging poll ratings and scare voters away from any ``red-green'' coalition. The Greens agreed at a weekend congress, held to prepare for September's general election, to triple gasoline taxes, wind down NATO, slash the size of the German army and legalize marijuana. The gas tax increase would more than triple the cost of gasoline over 10 years to five marks ($2.72) a liter or about $10.30 a gallon. [continues 268 words]
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) - A member of parliament's Transportation Committee is suggesting members gauge their skills in driving tests while stoned on marijuana or hashish. Gila Altmann, of the left-leaning, environmentalist Greens party, said in an interview Sunday in the mass-circulation Bild daily that she simply wanted to highlight what she considers a double standard regarding alcohol. Alcohol, which is legal, was blamed for 4,000 automobile deaths in Germany last year, whereas illegal drugs were blamed for only 16 deaths, Altmann said. [continues 55 words]
Over the 20 years that he has been involved in counselling drug users and shaping drug policy in the city, 46-year-old Werner Schneider has succeeded where others had long given up. Convinced that Frankfurt desperately needed a special local government drug agency as the problem reached crisis point in the late 80s, Schneider approached the Green party with a press release which he himself had written in the run-up to the 1989 municipal elections. Although not affiliated to any political party, Schneider felt that the zero-tolerance approach advocated up to then had only exacerbated the problem. The press release was an appeal for a change of direction in drug policy at public level. A change of government brought a change of heart, and Schneider became director of the new drug agency introduced in 1989. Until his removal as director by Health Minister Albrecht Glaser (CDU) in December 1996, Schneider played an instrumental role in the introduction of an innovative programme which provided medical and social help for addicts and greater co-operation between police, public health authorities and politicians in the battle against drugs. The results have been phenomenal: The number of deaths of drug users has dropped by over 80 percent over the past five years. Through drug prevention schemes, the amount of young people drawn into the scene has dropped significantly. Drug-related crime such as mugging and theft is falling, and the spread of HIV among addicts is at a controllable level. Schneider has always believed that the only way to begin solving the drug problem is to pool expertise and experience across affected cities. It was for this reason that he pushed for regular international conferences and meetings which resulted in the signing of the Frankfurt Resolution in 1990. He was also one of the founders of the association of European Cities on Drug Policy. He was invited late last year to speak at a drugs conference in Colombia, source of much of the world's illegal drugs. Although he admits that, while the problem may be more under control in Frankfurt, the battle has not been won. Many dealers have moved to outlying areas. But the way ahead is through co-operation. And that is half the battle. [continues 1546 words]
DRESDEN, - A Kazakh man shot dead two German customs officers early Tuesday during a routine inspection of a bus at the Polish-German border, authorities said Tuesday. Two passengers were also wounded in the incident at the Goerlitz frontier crossing, about 60 miles east of Dresden. The suspected assailant was captured shortly after jumping out of a window and fleeing, a police spokesman said. He added that he believed the passengers on the bus -- on its way to Germany from Poland -- came mainly from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. [continues 246 words]
Inside Germany
