Berlin – The Berlin Greens not only want to legalize cannabis, but also decriminalize hard party drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines in the capital.
“The right to intoxication should be a matter of course in a city of freedom like Berlin, it works even without the mentality of a Bavarian village police,” said Greens parliamentary group leader Werner Graf on Friday shortly before the so-called Hanfparade on Saturday in Berlin.
Police in Görlitzer Park, Berlin’s famous drug park
Criminal proceedings should therefore be stopped in Berlin even for possession of small amounts of hard drugs – as is the case with cannabis products such as marijuana and cannabis. In some other federal states, this is common with a gram of cocaine or a little ecstasy.
The Greens also want the police not to even investigate cannabis finds weighing up to 15 grams. The “Joint in the Park” should no longer be pursued by the police and the cannabis should no longer be confiscated. Criminal law is the “wrong answer for harmless potheads,” said Graf. “The criminalization of drug users is a relic from the last millennium and must end.”
Violent opposition came from the CDU, which accused the Greens of “lobbying for dealers and organized crime”. “Berlin’s Greens are on a life-threatening wrong path,” said the Berlin CDU domestic politician Frank Balzer. In recent years, Berlin has become a “drug hub” and green areas such as Görlitzer Park are a “dealer’s paradise” – at the expense of visitors and residents. “Berlin doesn’t need more easing, but a change of course in drug policy.”
Even the Federal Union thinks nothing of the Green plans. “The Union strictly rejects the legalization of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines. The right to intoxication with hard party drugs propagated by the Berlin Greens can only be a bad joke. The demands of the Greens can quickly cost lives. Club drugs have serious side effects and are quickly fatal. Anyone can see the consequences of the abolition of Berlin’s zero-tolerance strategy in Görlitzer Park or in Hasenheide. Instead of tackling the many real problems in Berlin, the Berlin Greens apparently resort to using hard drugs. This is an indictment of our capital,” said the legal policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, Prof. Dr. Gunter Krings.
If the police currently find marijuana on someone in Berlin, they initiate an investigation. If the amount found is less than 10 grams, the investigations are generally stopped by the public prosecutor’s office and under 15 grams are usually stopped. The police work “actually for the garbage can”, according to the Greens.
The federal government, made up of SPD, Greens and FDP, plans to partially allow cannabis and to introduce controlled sales of the drug to adults for recreational purposes in certain shops. A bill is expected to be presented by the end of the year.