The North Rhine-Westphalian state government has rejected a proposal from Cologne and Düsseldorf to tolerate the micro-trafficking of narcotics in addiction support centers. A spokesperson for Health Minister Karl Josef Laumann (CDU) told the FAZ that both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior are “fundamentally critical” of this so-called micro-trafficking.
According to the Ministry of Health in Düsseldorf, tolerating such micro-trafficking would “relativize a fundamental principle of order and drug policy-namely the prohibition of narcotics trafficking.” The ministry added that micro-trafficking would ultimately “create a legal market outlet for a branch of organized crime.”
In May, the two mayors, Torsten Burmester (SPD) of Cologne and Stephan Keller (CDU) of Düsseldorf, had appealed to the coalition government, asking permission to tolerate the micro-trafficking of illegal narcotics within the city’s addiction support centers. In mid-June, Burmester and Keller offered that Cologne and Düsseldorf could serve as nationwide pioneer cities, citing the “Zurich Model,” which had already been developed in the 1990s, as a potential blueprint.
However, a spokesperson for Cologne Mayor Burmester noted that, mirroring the Swiss approach, precautions would necessarily be in place to ensure that no dealing-meaning no commercial trade-occurs at consumption or intake locations. Mayor Keller, representing Düsseldorf, expressed disappointment, stating, “We are already tolerating trade on our city streets day in and day out.” He argued that given the current legal framework, the cities could no longer cope with the consequences of the crack epidemic. “That is why we continue to demand solution proposals from state and federal politics,” Keller said. He and Burmester are now planning a new approach via the German Association of Cities. Keller also added that he assumes the crack problem is now so visible in Berlin that action is ideally being taken there independently.
