BERLIN - The German government gave the go-ahead yesterday to relax rules on cannabis use by the seriously ill from early next year if they have no other treatment options. Dried cannabis flowers and cannabis extracts will be available in pharmacies on prescription and the public health system will cover the cost, according to the draft bill that is expected to come into force next year. Other countries that allow cannabis use for medical purposes include Italy and the Czech Republic. Some U.S. states have decriminalised cannabis completely. Portugal has decriminalised all drugs for personal use, but does not allow cannabis use for medical purposes. [continues 74 words]
GERMANY plans to set up a state cannabis agency to regulate the drug's cultivation and distribution to treat seriously ill patients. More pain sufferers would be given regulated access to the drug on prescription and paid for by their health insurance under measures outlined in a draft bill from the ministry of health and seen by German newspaper Weltam Sonntag. However, patients would still be banned from growing the drug. Until now, almost 400 pain sufferers in Germany have been legally authorised to obtain cannabis at their own expense, almost exclusively those suffering from terminal cancer. [continues 120 words]
BERLIN - A conservative politician who crossed the aisle and has joined the German Green Party's campaign to legalize marijuana has revived a long-running debate about the drug in Europe's largest economy. Lawmaker Joachim Pfeiffer, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, recently co-sponsored legislation that would lift Germany's ban on marijuana and regulate the drug like alcohol and tobacco - and, supporters say, bring in billions more marks in tax revenue. [continues 999 words]
Cannabis use likely triggered fatal complications that led to the deaths of two men with underlying health conditions, according to scientists in Germany. The findings are noteworthy because cannabis isn't normally associated with acute physical problems, let alone death. [end]
They had stomach cramps, nausea, anemia and fatigue, and some even had a telltale bluish line along their gums -- classic signs of lead poisoning. But the cases, last year in Leipzig, Germany, puzzled doctors. Lead poisoning is rare in Germany, and yet here were 29 cases in just a few months. The doctors noticed a pattern: the patients were young, from 16 to 33; they were students or unemployed; and they had body piercings and a history of smoking. In a letter published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors wrote, "On questioning, all the patients eventually conceded that they were regular users of marijuana." [continues 234 words]
Drug dealers looking for extra profits apparently added lead flakes to packets of marijuana, inflating their value while causing dozens of cases of serious poisoning, doctors in Germany reported today. The lead made up, on average, 10 per cent of the material in the marijuana packets, boosting profits by about $US1,500 ($A1,613) per kilogram, Franzika Busse of University Hospital Leipzig reported. "One package contained obvious lead particles; this strongly indicated that the lead was deliberately added to the package rather than inadvertently incorporated into the marijuana plants from contaminated soil," the researchers wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. [continues 171 words]
German Police Raid Border Plantations to Combat a Spillover of the Soft-Drug Culture As the Netherlands Gets Tougher Cannabis farmers in Germany were the target of a massive crackdown yesterday as police raided more than 200 plantations to tackle the new soft-drug culture that has spilt over from the Netherlands. Officers seized mature plants, packets of dried drugs and growing-equipment in the raids, which involved police forces from 16 regional states and 1,500 investigators. "We thought he was just a passionate gardener," an incredulous neighbour said after police stormed an apartment in Aachen near the Belgian border. [continues 409 words]
HAMBURG - The active ingredient in marijuana may suppress tumour invasion in highly invasive cancers, according to new research in Germany. Cannabinoids, the active components in marijuana, are already used medically to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, such as pain, weight loss and vomiting. But the new study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, finds that the compounds may also have an anti-cancer effect. However, more research is needed to determine whether the laboratory results would hold true in humans, the authors wrote. [continues 117 words]
A cannabis folk remedy has been resurrected by scientists who found that active ingredients in the drug reduce allergic reactions. The research, conducted on mice, points the way towards new cannabis-based treatments for irritated skin. Extracts from the hemp plant were traditionally used to treat inflammation and could be bought from chemists in the early part of the 20th century. But fears about the intoxicating effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that causes the cannabis high, led to a ban on sales in the 1930s. [continues 282 words]
BONN, Germany (AP-CP) -- Canadian Paralympic skier Kimberly Joines has been banned from competition for nine months after testing positive for marijuana. The Edmonton native tested positive at a World Cup event in Aspen, Colo., in January. Joines, 26, had illegal levels of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, the International Paralympic Committee said Thursday. She was given a nine-month ban because it was her first doping offence. Joines, who broke her back in a snowboarding accident in 2000, won a bronze medal in the sit-ski super-G at the 2006 Turin Paralympics. [end]
THOUSANDS of Germans have been stuffing euro notes up their noses -- and destroying not only their health but also the currency, police believe. They say that the mystery of why euro notes have been falling apart since the summer -- many look moth-eaten after only a day in the pocket -- is down to an increasing use of crystal methamphetamine. In Germany this drug is fast replacing cocaine as the illegal party substance of choice. The main variant used in nightclubs is white and goes by the names of "tweak", "tina" or "ice". [continues 265 words]
German police have claimed that the corrosive designer drug known as "crystal meth" was responsible for hundreds of self-destructing euro notes which have been mysteriously disintegrating in the hands of baffled shoppers and bank clerks since early last summer. More than 1,700 crumbling €50 and €20 notes have surfaced in at least 17 German towns and cities since June this year, prompting fears of a potential health risk and speculation about a possible blackmail attempt. The crumbing note mystery, which causes large holes to appear in euro notes as soon as they are touched, prompted a nationwide investigation by police and the German Bundesbank, which has been obliged to take back hundreds of damaged €50 and €20 notes. Yet nobody blamed drug users for the problem. [continues 480 words]
GRAFENWOHR, Germany -- Willie Nelson might be able to smoke marijuana and succeed, but the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse for many people are devastating, according to 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division commander Lt. Col. Michael A. Todd. Todd, the keynote speaker at a Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduation ceremony Monday for 42 Grafenwohr Elementary School sixth-graders, was responding to a question about Nelson, whose pro-marijuana views were featured on a radio show broadcast by the Armed Forces Network. [continues 332 words]
DRESDEN -- Police in Germany staged a pre-dawn raid on a suspected drug dealer on Saturday, wrecking his furnishings and shooting his two dogs - only to find out they had raided a fellow police officer's home by mistake. His blood-spattered apartment a shambles, the policeman informed his colleagues that the suspect resided in the flat above his. The officers then went upstairs where the next raid also failed to turn up any illicit drugs or weapons, shame-faced police said Saturday. [end]
"What we have is a generation of pot heads, many of whom become psychologically if not physically addicted to cannabis." Renate Kuenast, German Consumer Affairs Minister Teenagers in Germany are smoking cannabis in alarming numbers, prompting health authorities to issue stern health warnings and to call for stringent anti-drugs efforts by schools. A national survey shows nearly one out of every four 15-year-olds has smoked marijuana or hashish and that 15 percent do so regularly. Adding to the concerns is the fact that cannabis is far more potent now as a result of the EU's eastward expansion, permitting ready access to cannabis producers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. [continues 391 words]
When teachers at Herder school in north Germany discovered a chocolate cake outside their room, they suspected nothing. Pupils had often brought in cakes to raise money for charity, so staff sliced it up and tucked in. But before too long, 10 teachers from the elite school in Lüneburg started trembling, feeling unwell and suffering from hallucinations. Police called in to investigate confirmed that the cake had contained large amounts of hashish. All 10 teachers were treated at a clinic after eating the cake on Wednesday but were later released. The remains of the cake were being examined, police spokesman Michael Düker said. [continues 131 words]
RHEIN-MAIN AIR BASE, Germany - After a one-year hiatus, schoolchildren at Rhein-Main Air Base can again take a D.A.R.E. For the past year, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program was suspended at Rhein-Main after D.A.R.E. officers were asked to take a new, nine-week recertification course at a cost of $5,000. Lack of funding prevented attendance. This year, Air Force officials sought outside help to get the program going again. The provost marshal office for the Army's Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 221st Base Support Battalion, in Wiesbaden, stepped up, providing a D.A.R.E. officer once a week to teach kindergartners about safety, while older children learn how to say no to drugs. [continues 199 words]
Further evidence has emerged that an ingredient of cannabis could help prevent epileptic seizures. Some experts are now calling for fresh research into the potential of cannabis-like compounds to help alleviate the condition. Researchers from Germany found that natural brain chemicals which resemble cannabis extracts can interrupt a process which can trigger a seizure. There have been trials of cannabis compounds in MS and cancer patients. There are reports dating from the 15th century talking about the use of cannabis to ease the symptoms of epilepsy. [continues 245 words]
But Germany's "Drug-Consumption Rooms" Keep Addicts Safe Until They're Ready To Kick -- Or Not In 2000 the German Parliament signed into law an amendment to the Narcotics Act legalizing "drug-consumption rooms," or Drogenkonsumräum (DKRs). These facilities, operated by nonprofits, provide space where hard users can take drugs in a safe environment under medical supervision. In the years since the amendment, drug-related deaths in Germany have decreased by 25 percent. Similar facilities have opened in Vancouver, B.C., and Australia, where they're called "safe injection rooms." But in Germany they are explicitly legal. [continues 876 words]
Many ancient headache treatments, recorded by Persian physicians, have been proven in modern-day studies to be effective pain relievers according to a new German report. Medieval Persian texts revealing that opium and cannabis were often used, as well as oil from willow trees - from which aspirin was derived centuries later - suggest that many other such remedies should be scientifically tested for therapeutic value as well, says Dr Ali Gorji, of the Institute for Physiology, Munster University, in Germany, in a report in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences. [continues 532 words]
BERLIN (Reuters) - Almost all euro banknotes circulating in Germany contain traces of cocaine, scientists said on Wednesday, as notes rolled up by users to snort the illegal drug contaminate the cash system. "Nine out of 10 banknotes show clearly measurable amounts of cocaine," Fritz Soergel from the Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in Nuremberg told Reuters on Wednesday. Some 600 euro notes were examined in the study. The study could not provide conclusive evidence on levels of cocaine usage in Germany and the euro zone but Soergel said there was a clear correlation between the findings and levels of recorded cocaine abuse in European countries. [continues 227 words]
BERLIN (Reuters Health) - A large German study shows that mental problems often exist before use of the club drug Ecstasy, and researchers suggest caution in interpreting the reported association between the drug and brain cell damage. The study, conducted by the Max Plank Institute for Psychiatry and the Technical University in Dresden, suggests that psychological problems are more likely to predate drug use rather than necessarily being a consequence of it. Professor Hans-Ulrich Wittchen and colleagues published their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, based on information from nearly 2,500 people aged between 14 and 24. [continues 217 words]
Nazi researchers used concentration camp inmates to test a cocaine-based "wonder drug" they hoped would enhance the performance of German troops, it was reported yesterday. Prisoners at Sachsenhausen who were given the drug, code-named D-IX, were forced to march in circles carrying 20kg packs. They were able to march 55 miles without resting. The German news magazine Focus quoted an eye-witness report by a prisoner who wrote: "At first the members of the punishment battalion whistled and sang songs. [But] most of them had collapsed after the first 24 hours." [continues 186 words]
BERLIN (Reuters Health) - Safe centers where addicts can take drugs under medical supervision are helping the war on addiction, according to a new report from the German Health Ministry. Research shows the centers are helping to reduce the number of drug-related deaths and encouraging addicts to quit. Presenting the survey, Marion Casper-Merk, secretary of state for drug addiction, said: "Only those who survive have a chance of coming off drugs." Centers have been running in Frankfurt and Hamburg since 1995, but the scheme was given legal backing in April 2000 through a law created by the current health minister. It authorized the 16 German administrative regions, known as Lander, to open sites where addicts could take drugs under medical surveillance. [continues 287 words]
FRANKFURT, Germany - The 1997 Tour de France champion, Jan Ullrich, was banned from cycling for six months Tuesday after testing positive for amphetamines. Ullrich was given half the maximum suspension and was fined $1,400, the German cycling federation said. Although officially six months, Ullrich's ban expires March 24 to take into account the winter offseason. A three-person disciplinary panel decided to impose the minimum penalty because it determined that Ullrich did not take the amphetamines to enhance his performance. [continues 192 words]
FRANKFURT, Germany - The 1997 Tour de France champion, Jan Ullrich, was banned from cycling for six months Tuesday after testing positive for amphetamines. Ullrich was given half the maximum suspension and was fined $1,400, the German cycling federation said. Although officially six months, Ullrich's ban expires March 24 to take into account the winter offseason. A three-person disciplinary panel decided to impose the minimum penalty because it determined that Ullrich did not take the amphetamines to enhance his performance. [continues 147 words]
FRANKFURT, Germany - German cycling star Jan Ullrich admitted Saturday taking pills in a disco the night before a doping test found him positive of amphetamines, insisting it was a "stupidity" and he was in no way seeking to improve his performance in sport. Speaking to reporters for the first time since the results of the June 12 test became known, Ullrich said he declined to have a second, or B test, and admitted to taking what he described as "two little pills" an acquaintance had given him in a disco. [continues 331 words]
The introduction of state-run rooms where addicts can use drugs helped cut the number of drug-related deaths in 2001 by 9.6 percent from the previous year, a Health Ministry report said. The decline, to 1,835 deaths, was the first in four years. There are about 20 drug consumption rooms in Germany, run by state authorities. In March, seven cities began "heroin-supported therapy" in which addicts get heroin under medical supervision. [end]
BERLIN - Chemicals found in cannabis can significantly reduce the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome, study findings suggest. Tourette's syndrome is a neurological condition characterized by uncontrollable facial grimaces, tics, and involuntary grunts, snorts and shouts. Dr. Kirsten Mueller-Vahl of the Hanover Medical College in Germany led a team that investigated the effects of chemicals called cannabinols in 12 adult Tourette's patients. In the study, each patient was given a single oral dose of d9-THC--the most psychoactive chemical in cannabis--calculated based on their body weight, sex, age and prior use of marijuana, or a dose of inactive placebo. Symptoms were measured after the first treatment, and compared to symptoms after the same patient was switched to the other pill. Neither the patient nor the investigator knew whether they were given a placebo or the active treatment first. [continues 366 words]
FRANKFURT -- A new era is about to dawn for heroin addicts in Germany. Instead of having to scrape together an average of around Euro 4,000 ($3,500) a month to buy the drug on the streets, some people addicted to heroin will soon able to receive the drug at no charge from the government. Already, the city of Bonn has begun giving heroin to a select group of addicts at a special university clinic. Hamburg, Hannover, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and Karlsruhe are to begin distributing the drug by July, but are still in the preparation phase. [continues 989 words]
The country's highest court has ruled that a law allowing the state to take all of a criminal's assets as part of his punishment was unconstitutional. The law, passed in 1992, did not set an upper limit for punishment and thus was so vague that it did not meet the constitutional requirement to be clear, the court said. The ruling came in the case of a convicted drug trafficker who in 1994 was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and an additional $271,000 fine that came close to the value of all his assets. [end]
Hamburg Journal HAMBURG, Germany, Jan. 21 -- Ronald Schill, known in the press as "Judge Merciless," came into office in this elegant and seamy city state on a tide of disgust with crime and immigration, shaking political assumptions. Now he is thinking about going national. Mr. Schill, who is locally notorious for his harsh judgments in court, came out of nowhere to win nearly 20 percent of the vote in Hamburg's state elections last September, helping to turn the flaccid Social Democrats out of office here after 44 years in power. [continues 876 words]
BERLIN (F.A.Z.) -- Germany's drug abuse commissioner said on Tuesday that she would present to the federal government next year a new program to fight drug addiction, including alcohol abuse and smoking. Marion Caspers-Merk said the intention was to put more emphasis on treating individuals' addictions. But success will require the use of all "four pillars of drug and addiction policy: prevention, treatment, social support and law enforcement," she said. Ms. Caspers-Merk said she had high hopes for the "heroin on prescription" program under which doctors will prescribe the opiate to hard-core addicts out of centers in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Bonn, Cologne and Karlsruhe starting in February. [continues 314 words]
HAMBURG, Germany -- A 19-year-old alleged drug dealer from Cameroon died today, three days after being forced by German police to take an emetic to make him vomit narcotics he had swallowed. A statement from the Hamburg justice department said the cause of death was not clear and that an autopsy had been ordered. The youth had a heart attack Sunday after being given the herbal emetic ipecacuanha while in custody. Police later found 41 vials of narcotics in his stomach and intestine that he had swallowed in an effort to hide evidence against him. [continues 79 words]
A suspected drugs dealer is fighting for his life in the north German city of Hamburg, after police forced him to take an emetic to make him vomit up narcotics he had swallowed. The case has stirred up a new row over the use of emetics, which are being used in several German cities to secure evidence against narcotics suspects. Several opposition politicians and Hamburg's medical association are calling for a halt to the forced administration of the drugs. The case is also putting pressure on Hamburg's controversial new interior minister, former judge Ronald Schill, whose new Law and Order Offensive Party won a surprise 19% of the vote in the city-state's elections three months ago. [continues 303 words]
ROSTOCK, Germany, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The youth wing of the German Greens gave party leaders a bundle of marijuana cigarettes on Sunday and told them to relax. The leaders were handed the hashish (marijuana resin) "joints" after a fractious congress, which ended after the pacifist party voted to back the Afghan deployment of German troops. The junior members of Germany's ruling coalition have spent the last two weeks trying to avoid a party split over the deployment issue from bringing about a government collapse. [continues 119 words]
TEL AVIV - German police on Tuesday arrested two Israelis unloading a truck that contained 1.5 million Ecstasy pills, capping a long drug investigation by German, Dutch, Australian, and Israeli police into international Ecstasy trafficking by Israelis. Police said the infiltration of the drug ring represents the largest and most sweeping action in recent history against international Ecstasy trafficking, in which Israelis are known to be deeply involved. German detectives encountered the suspects unloading a truck with Dutch license plates near Hamburg Port. A search turned up the pills hidden in containers of artificial flowers. [continues 273 words]
Top Soccer Coach's Disclosure Rouses Germans From Complacency About Cocaine Munich -- To many Germans, the United States is a place where sniffing cocaine is as commonplace as swigging beer. But the recent revelation that a prominent German soccer coach tested positive for the drug has spotlighted the grim fact that Germany, too, is swamped with cocaine, and that the number of users is soaring. Authorities estimate that more than 1 million Germans of all ages and all walks of life have had recent experience with cocaine -- and more than a third of them are regular users. Some drug experts put that figure much higher. [continues 821 words]
Ute Sellin Is One Of Those Who Has Benefited From The German Approach -- And Perhaps Been Penalized By It Too. For Ute Sellin, Frankfurt's drug policy has been both salvation and a sentence to hopelessness. Eight years ago, the then 27-year-old was picked up near dead in Frankfurt's infamous needle park. She had sepsis, an infection that had spread from an abscess throughout her body, and endocartis, an infection of the heart that addicts frequently get. She spent weeks in the hospital recovering. Since she had been so sick, however, she qualified to get on Frankfurt's methadone program - -- something that is only available to addicts who have life-threatening illnesses related to their addiction. [continues 818 words]
Most Of The World's Safe Injection Sites Are In Europe, And The German City Leads The Parade. Olle has come to Frankfurt this Thursday, as he does every week, to do his shopping. The 25-year-old information-tech student buys a week's supply of heroin near the Hauptbahnhof, the central train station, to take back to Mannheim, where he lives with his parents an hour's train ride away. Before he heads home on the late-afternoon train, he walks over to 38 Elbestrasse. Next door to the Cafe Bistro La Bella, and across the street from one of this area's many legal brothels, is a tall, narrow, five-storey building built in classic old-European style. It's indistinguishable from its neighbours except for the frosted glass on the front window and a small plaque on the wall that says Drogennotdienst: Drug Emergency Service. [continues 3354 words]
2.3 Tons Of Powder Seized -- Company Imported Drug Precursor From China Hamburg, gateway to the world -- this is also true for international drug trade. For at least a year, the city was as hub for business in the dangerous drug precursor "PMK", the powder from which ecstasy is manufac-tured. Now, police and customs investigators shut down a Hamburg company than controlled imports and exports of the illegal chemical. About 2.3 tons "PMK" (Phenyl-Methyl-Keton) have been seized. This would have been sufficient to produce about 30 million ecstasy pills -- street value: more than 500 million marks ($230 million US dollars). [continues 347 words]
"How many of our politicians are drug addicts?" was the headline in Berlin tabloid BZ yesterday after traces of cocaine were discovered in toilets used by elected officials and civil servants in Berlin's Reichstag parliament building. It was more a case of red faces than white noses around the parliament yesterday after the revelation by television station SAT1 that 22 of 28 toilets tested were contaminated with cocaine. "It's unbelievable what was in this report. The toilets where cocaine was found are cleaned every day, sometimes even twice," said parliamentary spokesman Mr Hans Hotter, choosing to defend the professionalism of the toilet cleaners rather than the habits of the toilet users. The federal government first dismissed the findings as "unbelievable", but the federal public prosecutor yesterday announced it was launching an investigation into the matter. [continues 270 words]
BERLIN - Ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic funneled more than $100 million into foreign accounts and was involved in drug trafficking, Germany's foreign intelligence agency charged yesterday. "Such a fortune cannot have been amassed by legal means," said Lydia Rauscher, spokeswoman for the Federal Intelligence Service. "Numerous hints let us recognize Milosevic and his entourage as an organized crime structure, engaged in drug trade, money laundering and other crimes," a newspaper quoted the report as saying. The intelligence agency refused to release the report, but a spokeswoman broadly confirmed the newspaper Bild's account. [continues 79 words]
BERLIN, Oct. 16 - Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, placed more than $100 million in foreign accounts and was involved in drug trafficking, Germany's foreign intelligence agency has charged in a secret report. "Numerous hints let us recognize Milosevic and his entourage as an organized crime structure, engaged in drug trade, money laundering and other crimes," the Bild newspaper quoted the report as saying. A spokeswoman for the intelligence agency broadly confirmed the newspaper's account. "Such a fortune cannot have been amassed by legal means," Lydia Rauscher, the spokeswoman for the Federal Intelligence Service, said today. The report, prepared for the German government, says that Mr. Milosevic has sent $100 million to Switzerland alone, she said. [continues 56 words]
Dancers From All Over Cram Berlin Streets For World's Biggest Street Party, Love Parade BERLIN -- More than 1 million people danced to the booming beat of techno music Saturday at the annual Love Parade, turning central Berlin into a sea of sweaty bodies, shaggy pink outfits and shrill whistles. High-spirited youths from across Europe and beyond jammed the route through the Tiergarten park for the world's biggest techno rave street party, uniting behind its theme of music as a peaceful, globe-spanning force. [continues 377 words]
Berlin - Driven by thundering beats, about 1 million techno music fans packed the streets of central Berlin yesterday for the annual Love Parade - the world's biggest dance party of its kind. A high-spirited mass of people, most from Germany but many from abroad, jammed Berlin's main axis stretching west from the Brandenburg Gate and past the Victory Column with its golden angel on top. Organizers expected the crowd to reach a record 1.7 million people. "It's cool, it's outrageous and everyone is having a good time," said Andrew Lin, a 21-year-old from New Jersey who dropped in on the party during a European trip. [continues 186 words]
German junkies get clean, safe places to shoot up -- courtesy of their city governments. FRANKFURT, Germany -- "Bleib immer locker" (Always stay mellow) says the sign in the door, an oddly glib piece of advice for the junkies entering a government-funded center to shoot up drugs. A cross between a youth hostel and a run-down hospital clinic, the place has an antiseptic stench. German hip-hop is playing on a small boom box in the corner. In the waiting area, a dozen men and women are passed out in chairs or on the floor or else twitching nervously, awaiting their turn to inject. Once their names are called, each receives a steel tray containing a new syringe, cotton pads, a sterilized spoon, and a packet of distilled water -- everything needed to prepare and inject heroin or cocaine. This they do in the next room, sitting in plastic chairs where others are stripping off their pants in search of a spare vein, or just leaning back and letting the high set in. [continues 1047 words]
Techno sound booms through the basement hollow. Sweating bodies dance to fast beats. The crowd is frenzied. It's Saturday night, just after midnight. The techno scene is celebrating it's weekend at the Tunnel club on Grosse Freiheit [red light district, tr.]. Then the sudden shock: bright lights, an amplified voice booming "This is the police. Nobody moves. We're taking over." It's a drug raid, and the party's over. Seventy police officers storm the club in seconds. Nobody gets out, nobody gets in. Every person on the premises is searched. Those who offer any resistance have to stand up agaist the black wall and spread arms and legs. Pills are thrown on the ground, ditched at the last minute. The police confiscate 700 Ecstasy pills, 43 packs of speed and 40 bags of other, yet unidentified drugs. Twenty clubbers are temporarily arrested. [continues 401 words]
A tip had brought the drug squad on the trail of the two Hamburg men (aged 54 and 49). On monday, the 54-year-old man was arrested in a parking lot near Alster Lake. During a search of his car police found 85,000 pills that he had just picked up from his accomplice in Wilhelmsburg [south part of the city]. The 49-year-old man was arrested a few hours later. Another 16,500 pills were later found hidden in his yard. Investigators believe that the drugs were brought to Germany from Holland by the two suspects. [continues 1003 words]
Inside Germany
