NCJ Number
180621
Journal
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: 1997 Pages: 303-305
Date Published
1997
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This report describes the current state of drug trafficking in East Germany, especially in Saxony, under the new social conditions of reunification.
Abstract
Germany was divided into two parts after World War II. The closed border and a nonconvertible currency in East Germany were the primary factors that prevented a drug market from developing. Alcohol and medicaments were used by East German residents as substitute drugs. Since Germany was reunified 5 years ago, the same conditions prevail for the procurement and sale of drugs in East Germany as there are in the States of West Germany. The rate of drug offenses in East Germany has increased from 5 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1992 to 12 in 1994. Still, compared with West Germany, drug offenses in East German States are hardly of any consequence; in Saxony they accounted for a mere 0.16 percent of the total crime rate in 1994. By comparison, the corresponding share in West Germany has been more than 2 percent of the total crime rate for several years. The majority of the known drug offenses (62.4 percent in 1994) were committed in the large cities. Broken down according to types of drugs, the overwhelming majority of offenses were with cannabis products (49.8 percent), followed by heroin (14.0 percent) and cocaine (7.4 percent). In 1994, a total of 1,624 drug-related deaths occurred in Germany, according to the World Health Organization; only 6 of them were in the East German States. Thus, the increase in drug offenses so feared after Germany's reunification has not yet occurred in the East German States, but a considerable percentage of undetected crimes must be assumed to exist, because offenses of this kind are reported only in exceptional cases. 2 tables and 14 references