Crack continues to spread in Western Germany. The cocaine derivative is now the most commonly consumed drug in the open drug scenes of the four North Rhine-Westphalian cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, Münster and Essen, surpassing heroin. This is according to a comprehensive survey of 525 drug addicts conducted last fall, reported by the “Spiegel.” The study, “Open Drug Scenes in NRW 2024” conducted by the Technical University of Nuremberg and the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, found that more than half of the respondents aged 17 to 78 admitted to smoking crack in the past 24 hours. Only a quarter of them had smoked heroin.
Around 30 percent of the drug consumers had foreign citizenship, with the majority coming from EU countries. The study found that people who frequently use crack are more likely to be homeless, become more criminal and deteriorate more quickly. An astonishing 80 percent of all respondents had been incarcerated, with an average stay of nearly six years. Two-thirds of the participants no longer had their own home, with a third being homeless.
The study authors recommend, among other things, better access to housing for the affected individuals, decriminalization of consumers and regular offers for EU citizens. The addiction help must be made “more accessible.