The parliamentary group of a left-wing party in Germany has filed a motion calling for the controlled distribution of hard drugs to addicts as a means to “reduce the pressure” on the prosecution of drug users and to “initiate a fundamental rethink” into the country’s policy on drugs.
As reported by the German news outlet Junge Freiheit, hard drugs such as methamphetamine would be distributed to addicts under close “therapeutic support” to bring down criminal prosecutions; other hard drugs such as morphine, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, and even heroin would no longer be prosecuted if users were found purchasing or possessing small quantities.
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The model, the news outlet claimed, would follow the similar decriminalization of perceived softer drugs such as marijuana, which some federal states choose not to prosecute individuals for possessing in small amounts.
Drug users must be “consistently protected from criminal prosecution,” the motion read. “Police, public prosecutors, courts and last but not least, medical facilities must be relieved and be able to concentrate on important public welfare tasks,” it added.
Amphetamine abuse, colloquially referred to as crystal meth, has been on the rise across Germany in recent years, with the number of crystal meth offenses rising in 2020 by 18.9 percent to almost 12,000 cases, according to figures provided by the Federal Criminal Police Office. Experts estimate that drug use during coronavirus lockdowns has sky-rocketed since these latest published figures.
Left-wing politicians called for the legalization of drug substitutes for crystal meth in 2015, with then drug policy spokesman Frank Tempel advocating the permitted use of such drugs, the quality of which could be “controlled.”
