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]
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]
Copenhagen - Christiania, the last independent hippy colony in Europe, is to be closed on a legal technicality, a move that seems set to provoke street fighting in Copenhagen as drop-outs and drug dealers resist government bulldozers. For more than 30 years the self-governing settlement in the centre of the Danish capital has acted as a magnet for those trying to escape the rat race. The residents of Christiania set up their own city state in a sprawling 18th-century naval fortress once used as a barracks by the Nazi occupation forces. [continues 513 words]
THE most liberal of EU governments are resisting any attempt to blur the borders between hard and soft drugs. Indeed Holland - famous for its coffee shops permitting the sale and smoking of small quantities of cannabis - argues that tolerance of soft drugs actually reduces misuse of harder drugs. France and other more conservative states disagree and maintain an across-the-board prohibition. But the effect is the same: the distinction between hard and soft drugs is regarded as necessary. Holland allows hundreds of coffee-shop owners to sell 5g of cannabis to each customer. These drug cafes survive in a legal limbo. It is illegal to supply a coffee shop with the soft drugs yet acceptable to sell them to customers. The police simply turn their gaze away providing that no one under 18 is served cannabis, that the coffee shops do not advertise or display drug menus in the window, that neighbours are not annoyed and that hard drugs, amphetamines and Ecstasy are not sold on the premises. [continues 296 words]
IN FRANKFURT, the financial heart of continental Europe, many roads lead to oblivion. You can shoot up behind a dustbin, you can curl up on a stairwell. Or you can walk past the shining glass headquarters of Germany's leading banks and enter a pleasant room with potted plants and, at state expense, pump yourself full of heroin. Bernie is a junkie commuter. He takes the free minibus "The Dream Bus," he calls it from the railway station to the east of the city. At a large councilrun house, he can inject himself. "You can stay a bit longer there. And it's got wall mirrors." He points to his neck, the only body part left where he can still stab his syringe. The halogen lights, the magnifying mirrors, make it easier to find the vein. [continues 417 words]
