Germany:Berlin opens coffee shops against skullduggery

Germany:Berlin opens coffee shops against skullduggery:

Those responsible for a district intend to end the widespread illegal sale in one of the large parks. "It's time to implement other solutions"


http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2013/11/28/actualidad/1385671131_593009.html

Enrique Mueller Berlin 28 NOV 2013 - 21:38 CET

Berliners will be available to purchase marijuana and hashish to smoke it quietly in a bar. Germany launches coffee shops. Thus have decided the rulers of one of the districts of the capital, of Friedrichshein-Kreuzberg, to end the illegal business and crime surrounding the illegal use of these substances. The initiative was approved unanimously, after presenting his initiative the mayor of the district, Monika Herrmann, Los Verdes. Was necessary to revolutionize the legal framework prohibiting the sale and possession of soft drugs in the country.
The famous Görlitz, a large and popular park green area has been turning in time to fill of the neighbors, the largest marketplace for drugs of the city controlled by the Lebanese mafia and vendors whose business comes in your most African countries.
Now the street has changed skullduggery by approved establishments. Monika Herrmann called the measure adopted by the district assembly as a first step towards remedying the failure of prohibition affecting consumption of marijuana in the country. "The time has come to implement solutions unusual," he said, justifying the idea of opening the famous coffee shops around the park. Sellers, say, enjoy total impunity in providing drugs to neighboring park and tourists despite countless raids that made the police at the scene.

Illegal business controls the Lebanese mafia and neighbors are fed up

According to a Government of Berlin, in the first nine months of the year, police conducted 113 operations aimed at preventing drug in the park. Although more than 500 people were arrested and are subject to prosecution, trade continues.
The sale of drugs in the Park blossomed last summer, a reality that forced the authorities to take further action. CDU councilors, for example, proposed to strengthen the presence of the police and create controls access to the park. The Greens, however, pushed for a radical change and proposed the opening of coffee shops under strict rules without losing sight of the control of the sale of the drug.
Under the new initiative, which must be approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, prospective clients should prove they are over 18 and local experts who will advise on the possible harms of drug consumption .
It is still unclear if the initiative of the municipality will succeed and a spokesman for the Federal Institute for Drugs was not able to give an opinion. "It's the first time that a similar proposal is made and therefore can not say whether it will be approved or rejected."
But the rulers of the City of Berlin, although Kreuzberg rated the park as the "epicenter" of the drug trade in the city, believe the area needs more than a strong police presence and new ideas to the district sought to stabilize the area and give greater quality of life for neighbors. "But the idea of coffee shops is not a solution," admitted the head of the Interior, Frank Henkel, in a statement sent to this newspaper. "The trivialization of dangerous drugs does not solve the problem."
Monika Herrmann's answer is categorical: "coffee shops should be allowed around Berlin," he said. "Nor should we forget that marijuana could sell the state is of better quality than the illegal"