Crack has been more dominant than ever for years
At a specialist conference in Frankfurt, experts and politicians are looking for solutions to counteract the crack problem in large cities.
In Frankfurt, crack has “played an important role” for about 25 years, said drug consumption researcher Bernd Werse from Frankfurt’s Goethe University at the international conference “Crack in German cities – from research to practical decisions”. For several years, however, the drug has been “more dominant than ever”, increasingly so since the corona pandemic. Employees of drug help facilities in Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen also reported growing problems.
- drug researcher: “The situation for addicts has worsened”
According to researchers, the consumption of the drug crack is increasing, especially in large western and northern German cities. Municipalities would like more freedom in the search for solutions. Crack is a drug made from cocaine and smoked. It has a strong effect, but only for a short time. Experts see a high “potential for neglect” and a lot of aggression among consumers. Unlike heroin, there is no substitution option.
The situation in Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel is recommended by many as “unbearable”, admitted Frankfurt’s health department head Stefan Majer (Greens). However, the motto should not be “out of sight out of mind”: the aim must be to help the seriously ill. In order to curb consumption and alleviate the consequences, legislative changes are needed at federal level.