Drug trafficking is growing in Germany. “We see a huge demand for drugs in Germany,” said the deputy head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Martina Link, on Thursday in Wiesbaden. There are many criminal groups that deal in drugs on a large scale. This is a serious problem in Germany. Overall, the number of drug offenses nationwide in 2021 fell by 1.3 percent compared to the previous year.
Drug trafficking and drug smuggling are the main sources of income for organized crime, Link said. Almost half of these groups are active in the field of internationally organized drug trafficking.
According to the BKA, about 56,000 of the approximately 361,000 drug offenses registered in 2021 were related to drug trafficking. That’s a 2.9 percent increase over a year ago, Link explained. Almost 48,000 suspects have been identified due to the illegal drug trade in Germany. Overall, the total number of suspects in connection with drug offenses – including possession and purchase – fell slightly year-on-year to almost 281,000 people.
Most crimes related to cannabis
The largest number of drug offenses detected last year, at almost 60 percent, were related to cannabis. The percentage for amphetamine was about ten percent and for cocaine about six percent, while heroin and crystal accounted for about three percent, the investigator explained in the presentation of the “Federal Drug Crime Report 2021”.
The drug is not only offered and marketed classically on the street, but increasingly also on the Internet. The perpetrators mainly used the Darknet, but also social networking sites and messaging services. This trend has continued to stabilize in the second year of the corona pandemic and is making the criminal prosecution very complicated, announced the vice president of the BKA.
The perpetrators made billions in profits from the international drug trade. These illegal profits would either be reinvested in the drug business. Or the money flows into the legal economy and into real estate, gastronomy or arcades, the investigator explained. “Without the huge demand for drugs, the illegal trade would not be as profitable as it is,” Link said, noting the high level of violence in organized crime.
1826 deaths from drug addiction
1,826 people died in Germany last year as a result of their drug addiction. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, this corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent. The main causes of death were the use of heroin and opiate substitute drugs.
“We need to do more to ensure that people don’t even use dangerous drugs, or, if they do, get off them again,” warned the federal government’s commissioner for addiction and drugs, Burkhard Blienert. “That’s why we need truly comprehensive addiction prevention in Germany that delivers on what it promises.” The demand for drugs should be reduced. There should be nationwide and adequately funded counseling services. More advice should also be available online.