Post date: Jan 24, 2013 4:45:10 PM
Crystal Meth is "cheap cocaine" say not only an addicts but also doctors and custom officers warn against the increasing influx of the drug at the German-Czech border.
HOCHSTADT, GERMANY (JANUARY 23, 2013) (REUTERS) - Patients sit smoking in the Hochstadt clinic garden, passing the time between daily meds and workshop activities.
There are currently 80 patients at the former monastery, in the middle of nowhere, some 50km north of the Wagner city Bayreuth. Located just there so that recovering addicts are safe from the temptations of old friends and old habits.The clinic serves all sorts of addictions including drugs and alcohol and is currently home to a large number of Crystal Meth addicts, the other side of Bavaria's alpine, Lederhosen image.
One 24-year old patient who didn't wish to be named checked himself into Hochstadt after dropping to 55 kilos and reaching his physical limits.
"I came to it via work colleagues. I noticed that they were faster at work and weren't exhausted afterwards. And I wanted to try it too. And at some point I took it at a party and then at some point every day," he told Reuters TV, "I was physically finished … I just couldn't any more," he added.
Dubbed the world's most dangerous drug, Methamphetamine, or Crystal Meth is cheap, highly addictive and fast-working. Giving even first time users little chance of walking away unscathed.
"Crystal meth is the cheap version of cocaine," a 40-year old Hochstadt patient told Reuters, "Mainly in this area - Bavaria. It's cheap, it's easy to get. It seemed to just happen overnight. In the circles here in Bavaria that I was mixing in it seemed to just be there. And as I have always tried everything in my life, I tried that as well. But the addiction is really strong, really strong with Crystal meth. People underestimate the stuff."
The Hochstadt crystal meth therapy lasts 24 weeks, with the majority of patients ranging from mid 20s to mid 30s.
According to Roland Haertel, head of the addiction department at Bayreuth hospital Crystal-speed has been around since the 1990s where it was widely used on the party scene. Already then around 50 percent of addicts seeking therapy were meth consumers.
According to Haertel 2009/10 saw an increase in meth related hospital incidents including psychosis.
The senior doctor at the Hochstadt clinic, Ulrike Leonow, said that Crystal Meth is worse than heroine because it leads to a faster addiction since it changes the nerve cells so dramatically.
"On the other hand it is also a drug that appeals to young people who still want so much from life. It's a party drug. And it's a drug for older people who want to work more efficiently. But mostly it is taken to have fun. And you get an effect with Crystal very quickly: the first and the second time. The longer the patients take it the iller they get," Leonow said.
Running along the Czech border, Bavaria along with Saxony is experiencing an increase in crystal meth usage - in the last 5 years the Hochstadt clinic has seen the rate ofcrystal meth addicts rise from 10-15 percent to 50-60 percent - an increase exacerbated by the liberalization of Czech drug laws and a reduction of police anti-drug activity on the Czech side.
According to data from the BKA the West traditionally got its speed from Holland while the East got Crystal meth from the Czech Republic. Close by, cheap and easy to access.
Hartmut Koschyk, under-secretary at the German interior ministry, said in a news-conference about the trafficking along the Czech-German border on Thursday (January 24) that over ten days 130 investigators have searched 10,000 people and 5,000 cars and confiscated almost one kilogramme of Crystal Meth. A large amount, he said, "1 kilogram of Crystal Meth can provide ... almost 40,000 (consumer) units."
And the Czech colleague are very interested in a cooperation, as Pavel Hoffman from the Czech custom's department told Reuters. "Not so much organised crime gangs are involved in the traffic but consumers from Germany who drive themselves (over the border). They buy smaller amounts for their own consumption or for friends from the Vietnamese (markets). We call this kind of drug trafficking the 'ant-like trafficking' and it is very very difficult to fight."
According to Haertel the main problem is funding. Clinics say they are missing research and official data on how widespread the problem is and clinics in the hard hit areas have also expressed surprise that there is not more funding for cross-border collaborations to tackle the problem.
For Hochstadt patients the main problem is staying clean on leaving the clinic in a region where only a few euros buy some grams and Crystal Meth is so easy to get, so cheap and so widespread.