Frankfurt will be a pioneer in drug policy
When the controlled sale of cannabis becomes nationwide in Germany, Frankfurt is one of the first municipalities to set up a corresponding point of sale. At least if it goes according to the plans of the coalition in Römer. The Greens, the health department heads responsible for drug policy without jobs, have been demanding approval for years. And the new head of security, Annette Rinn (FDP), also advocates legalization because she hopes it will ease the stress on the Frankfurt drug hub. “With the release of cannabis in controlled quantities, a large part of the illegal drug trade will disappear,” says Rinn. “Because about 55 percent of all narcotics offenses relate to cannabis.” In her view, the cityscape in Frankfurt would also change with the following consequence: “Once the cannabis trade has normalized and no clandestine deals in dark corners – such as in the Bahnhofsviertel – more to be initiated. I am convinced that, after a short transitional period, the situation will ease for the first time if cannabis is purchased in an orderly, verifiable manner.”
But the police doubt whether a controlled sale of cannabis would actually have an impact on the illegal drug trade. And for several reasons. The chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators, Dirk Peglow, who knows the local scene as a Frankfurt investigator, says that the dealer groups, which have been firmly established on the market over the past few years, would not let a controlled fee dissuade them from their business. “They look for other niches, then possibly switch to other drugs, which leads to new distribution battles.” It can also be expected that they will gear the illegal trade to selling cannabis cheaper than in the licensed dispensaries. Since the release there should only be possible from the age of 18, “which is a right decision”, young people would remain among the customers.
Cannabis “a dangerous substance”
From Peglow’s point of view, however, the protection of minors does not go far enough. “Due to the liberalization debate, which is to be welcomed, the impression must not arise that cannabis is a harmless herb,” says the police officer. any discussion should be preceded by the fact that it is a dangerous substance that can have serious health consequences, especially for young users. Against this background, according to Peglow, it is fatal if the coalition agreement talks about “pleasure purposes” and does not choose a more neutral formulation such as “consumption purposes”. From the point of view of the Association of German Criminal Investigators, it would also be “desirable to initially introduce the controlled delivery within the framework of individual model projects, to accompany them with extensive prevention programs and to investigate how the illegal market reacts to these delivery points.”
Another argument advocates of legalization often make is the number of investigations that would be avoided if some users were able to purchase the drugs legally. There is talk of almost 1.4 billion euros that could be saved in criminal prosecution. About 60 percent of drug-related offenses are related to the use of cannabis, 84 percent of which are consumption-related offences, according to the 2017 federal situation report on drug-related crime. At least for the police, however, the argument of savings is difficult to grasp. According to Peglow, the decriminalization of consumers, which is also demanded by the BDK, “would not result in us cutting back on staff. we may use it where it is urgently needed – in the fight against organized drug-related crime.” Extensive investigations are being conducted in this area in particular, for which staff are urgently needed. “The federal government’s liberalization of drug policy, which is fundamentally to be welcomed from the BDK’s point of view, is associated with many questions that must be taken into account when formulating a corresponding draft law. In addition to the criteria for the certification of the dispensary, the staff deployed there and extensive prevention concepts, in the future it will be necessary to distinguish between illegally and legally acquired cannabis during controls. I’m very excited to see how this will be settled.”