Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) speaks out clearly against the decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of hard drugs. She told the Tagesspiegel on Monday: “I categorically reject the legalization of even small amounts of hard drugs.” Spranger was reacting to a push by the Berlin Greens parliamentary group and its chairman Werner Graf.
Last week they called for criminal proceedings to be discontinued in the future for small amounts of harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin or ecstasy – as is already the case with cannabis. Here it applies that up to a quantity of ten grams of cannabis procedures are stopped, with less than 15 grams are usually stopped. This was implemented in Berlin through a joint general decree of the justice and interior administration.
The Greens now want the same for harder drugs, following the example of countries such as Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. Proceedings could be dropped for possession of up to one gram of heroin and up to 3 grams of cocaine and amphetamines, Green Party spokesman Vasili Franco suggested. Trade should continue to be punishable. The Left Group in the House of Representatives supports the move.
Green parliamentary group leader Werner Graf had argued, among other things: “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 force.” The criminalization of drug use is a relic from the last millennium and must end said Count. “Anyone who slips into addiction needs help and not police persecution.”
Berlin’s interior administration announced on request that corresponding regulations in other federal states were not evaluated. “It’s a state thing,” said a spokeswoman for the Tagesspiegel. According to Tagesspiegel information, the SPD had already opposed the decriminalization of the consumption and possession of hard drugs during the coalition negotiations, which the Left Party in particular had pushed for at the time.
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The SPD-led interior administration, the justice administration led by the left and possibly also the health administration led by the Greens would have to agree on a corresponding general decree. Paragraph 31a of the Narcotics Act (BtMG) allows criminal proceedings to be waived, and a general decree could define corresponding quantities for Berlin.
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 draft law is expected to be presented at the end of the year.
