Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/09/drug-dealers-herded-into-desig.html
…
1 Like
Police so this here in London, without the pink lines. They know they can’t eliminate them, so they nudge them around neighbourhoods with a kind of knowing wink.
4 Likes
Looks like a business opportunity.
4 Likes
Hamsterdam
16 Likes
My sister got married in this very park. It was raining like crazy so whenever outside we would seek shelter under roofs, gazebos… with a bunch of drug dealers. It was nice!
2 Likes
The sharpest remarks came from Germany’s national anti-drugs tsar, Marlene Mortler, of the conservative Christian Social Union, who told the Funke Mediengruppe: “If this is true then it marks the capitulation of our constitutional state. We should not be issuing the dealers with a licence to deal.”
Alarmist and hyberbolic politicians like this are the reason why Hamsterdams are needed. The German “war on drugs” has likely been just as much a failure as the ones elsewhere, so if the addicts and the scumbags who sell to them aren’t going anywhere then harm reduction (which this is – for the community) is the way to go.
5 Likes
I believe a similar solution was a plot line on The Wire which, in turn, was inspired by real events that David Simon (creator of The Wire), wrote about in his non-fiction account of the Baltimore police called " Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
3 Likes
The Corner is the drugs-specific book that was the more direct inspiration/basis for The Wire. Both books are excellent, although Homicide is more about homicide.
2 Likes
2 Likes
You are correct. The dealers were warned it would only last so long as there was no violence in the area. Then in one episode or another somebody got whacked; the police helped drag the body across the street so as not to violate the “rule.”
she really is something; her legendary answer why canabis is illegal in germany:
A main point of criticism are her justifications for the illegality of cannabis in contrast to the legality of alcohol - in interviews she stated that (translated) "in contrast to Cannabis alcohol is part of our culture" and “Because Cannabis is an illegal drug. Period.”
you cant make that shit up.
4 Likes
I go to Berlin a lot and i can tell you the only reason this is news is that its in a park, if you get the train to Görlitzer Bahnhof be forewarned, thou not as bad as it has been, ( I was there for 2 weeks this april and I would say numbers where down 50%) there are normally about 10 to 20 people trying to sell you drugs when you get of the train, they approach you and say speed, ecstasy, crack etc and you just have to ignore them, I hate going to that station, and ether go the the next one and walk back or just dont go there, unless i really have to!
I spoke to one of the cafe owners there and he said they get away with it because there are so many of them that they each only carry the legal personal amount and then sell that and restock from one another then have a stash near by so they are only ever carrying the smallest amount possible, the police know they are there, but because they carry so little no charge stick, and they can just be replaced with more migrant workers, so the police have given up.
The streets around Astra Kulturhaus are also bad, thou mainly round the entrances to the bit of land that it sits on, but tbh most of them dont want any trouble its not in their long term business interests, so you just have to say no thanks and carry on walking…
Compared to the US we don’t have one.
2 Likes
Where did they put the Purdue Pharma booth?
Oh, you mean small-time drug pushers.
3 Likes
In Bristol, Avon and Somerset police have an unofficial official policy (or is it officially unofficial?) not to bother arresting anyone for possession of weed Of course, on a sunny weekend it seems like they’d have to arrest half of the city otherwise.
On the other hand we have this:
The no drinking regulations have been in place for a couple of years now, but it’s only this year that the private contractors who enforce it have bothered trying to stop people drinking. I suspect it won’t last long.
3 Likes
Well, that at least is honest.
Clearly, there’s room to ‘disrupt’ that system and get an app involved somehow…ideally using blockchain.
Come on, folks - someone knock up a shitty mock-up of an app, I’ll get a funding round going, we can all be rich.
2 Likes
My bad. Thanks for the correction.
The police have failed to police it and the state has failed to give the dealers other options, yet they have the gall to complain when someone comes up with a workable solution.
Since they can’t offer solutions they are clearly part of the problem and are probably butthurt its so obvious.
