Since 2016, the number of drug-related deaths among people under the age of 22 has more than doubled, but the numbers for the entire population are also high.

Drug trafficking and consumption have been a serious problem in Europe for many years. Various types of drugs are becoming increasingly common among young people. Germany is no exception, where the number of cases involving the drug-related death of a person under 22 years of age has increased significantly in recent years.

According to a survey conducted in all German federal states by STRG_F, a media outlet dealing with politically and socially relevant topics, a total of 131 people under the age of 22 died in 2021. Three of them were 13 or younger.

Between 2016 and 2019, there were an annual 44-59 drug-related deaths among people under the age of 22. By 2020, however, that number rose to 78. The number of deaths reached an all-time high across all age groups in 2021, when a total of 1,826 people died due to drug consumption.

Burkhard Blienert, the federal government’s narcotics commissioner, oddly expressed his surprise upon seeing the figures. He claims that until now, he had no idea that the situation was so bad.

„I wasn’t aware of this figure before, but it clearly proves that we absolutely need to take a new direction in the domestic addiction and drug policy, which I have advocated for several times,”

Mr Blienert said. The reporters at STRG_F started to deal with the topic after a 20-year-old recently died – presumably due to drug overdose – at a „rave party.” These are electronic music events that are held in odd venues, such as a warehouse, a ship, a forest, or even a cave, among others. Attendees of such events are not checked in any way, so it is very easy to get hold of drugs.

Not only are the partygoers paying less and less attention to each other, but they are also using more and more drugs, in many cases without even hiding it. Many of them are minors, the reports say.

This is also confirmed by the STRG_F research. The reporters visited two illegal events in the Cologne area, where they met, among others, minors who were consuming drugs from mobile phone screens.

While drug use and trafficking are booming at such a high level in the western region of Europe, the German federal government has still not given up its plan to give cannabis the green light, V4NA recently reported.

According to the plans published so far, Germany would legalise cannabis completely, so that the consumption and sale of the drug under a licence would be allowed under German law.

However, the Liberals objected to a part of the plan that limits the percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) allowed in commercial cannabis. As THC is the main psychoactive substance found in cannabis, Liberal MPs argued that limiting the percentage of the substance in drugs sold would encourage the black market to continue to operate. Liberals therefore believe that all restrictions should be abolished.

This means that Germany is proposing the most radical plan in Europe to legalise marijuana, but several medical associations are opposing it, arguing that the health risks for young people are clear. Thomas Fischbach, chairman of the German Association of Paediatricians and Junior Doctors, warned that

„regular cannabis use in adolescents and young adults can cause irreversible brain damage, up to and including permanent impairment of intellectual performance and social competence,”

he said in an interview with the Rheinische Post. Doctors for children and adolescents want cannabis not to be legalised, because it is not clear how can the legally purchased drug be prevented from reaching people under 18.