tv Close up Deutsche Welle April 28, 2021 9:30am-10:01am CEST
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in tons of plastic waste. is the another way. after all employment is interest cyclable. make up your own mind. w. made for mines. much of the crystal meth that's consumed in germany comes from the czech republic here chip police carrying out a drug raid meth has also produced in other countries. because they're flooding the market. dutch drug gangs are pushing into the european market filling the gap left by check drug operations that have been busted.
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this isn't smuggling it's a sophisticated highly profitable business and the dutch police sees only 5 to 10 percent of total production and that gives you an idea of how much is actually on the market and. crystal meth is easy and cheap to produce and the profits for dealers can be enormous. believe it want to discover still here we see a typical meth lab. well it can produce 20 kilograms over a 2 day cycle. and on the street a philo of meth sells over 600000 check crowns cougar. that's just over $23000.00 euros so 460000 euros for lab in just 48 hours the average price per gram is $65.00 euros crystal meth normally take it in on fifty's we've reached the point where people at all levels of society are using this drug in one's lucas has just become is
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a bit consumed me and. they says rotterdam in the netherlands europe's largest seaport there's been a big increase recently and illegal imports of the chemicals that are used to make crystal meth. dutch journalist make fun fell he says that the number of meth labs raided by police is rising fast since to a national system jams on 3 and since 2016 about 20 of these labs have been identified huge labs that can produce $80000000.00 euros worth of drugs per month in normal hodes a lot of. mexican cartels supply
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a lot of crystal meth for the european market it's pouring in with the components often hidden on board freighters like these the cartels have also sent their own meth cooks to europe to make the stuff out of the trouble i guess dodgy beginning and it's crystal meth and it's extremely important for us to monitor developments in the crystal meth market very closely and of like ok you know if we're not talking about small time cocaine or marijuana distributors here. these are the mexican cartels. and when they get into a market there's a big increase in drug production and drug related violence built here for we've seen that in mexico and they're moving into the market here. so as far as crystal meth is concerned the warning signals are flashing throughout europe where crystal meth the new doll bought in june 29002500 kilograms of crystal meth were seized at the port of rotterdam the largest drug bust of its kind in europe.
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this is the bavarian city of pasto we've come here to meet drug counsellor you use clearly. from 2003 until he retired last year clinic was in charge of a therapy center that's affiliated with the catholic diocese of passout. he says there's been a big increase over the last decade in the number of people who've come to the center for help. the situation is serious in fact it's alarming we've even had a few deaths recently that could put street is legal. when creek walks through parts of town known for drug activity he can often great some of the people there by name. the number of addicts who've come to the center is increasing 20 years ago cook had just
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a handful of clients 3 years ago there were 80 and now the number has risen to well over 100. and those are just the statistics from one counseling center. high goodness to consummate no one who uses crystal meth comes to my office on their own and asks me for help all of our clients have been ordered to get counseling. a prosecutor will tell them sign up for a treatment program or go to jail. but those people are just the tip of the iceberg this is a huge problem people use their power to be it that he's excited. but few people aside from you he was clearly are sounding the alarm about crystal meth abuse and passing. the hook if this insight room is when things calm down a bit or a lot of people come to the mistaken conclusion that the situation is under control
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. as far as i'm concerned that's an indication that this drug has become part of everyday life in our communities and people just aren't concerned about it anymore . and let me read some team argument. but public apathy doesn't mean that the problem is any less serious now we're going to introduce you to a local resident who's been using crystal meth for 6 years. we've agreed to conceal his identity he says he even goes to work when he's high. my boss doesn't have a problem with me using drugs he doesn't know that i also use them on the job sometimes when i've been taking drugs i'll be late for work but the boss doesn't seem to mind because i always do a great job. he estimates that about 20 percent of the
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people in his hometown he was crystal meth. many of those who've taken the drug say that it gives them a rush of energy makes them more alert and enhances their overall performance. we've come to the bavarian town of buy a light to me to addiction therapist or don't have the petri he's been working with crystal meth users for 3 decades including single mothers skilled workers and business managers he explains why people can quickly become addicted to this drug. is a crystal the crystal meth that sold on the street can be up to 90 percent pure a 1st time user who inhales $80.00 to $100.00 milligrams of the drug at that level of purity will soon experience a sense of euphoria which is the maximum you could use. futures of movie crystal meth triggers the release of several chemicals in the brain that make people feel
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good cause and they keep taking the drug because they want the sensation to last trip off the street or to a c.e.o. . but these feelings of euphoria are the subject of users often find that they need more and more crystal meth to achieve the same level of stimulation. and once the drug wears off they will likely experience withdrawal symptoms. just last few moons shocked because the big problem with crystal meth is that it's neuro toxic. that is it damages the nervous system is what you call chronic meth abuse can reduce the amount of chemicals in the brain that make us feel good this is because this can lead to fatigue and even depression wonderful believes to ask even once in a hit if you keep using this stuff you'll eventually build up a tolerance so you have to take
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a larger amounts to try to get high and eventually you get to the point where it just doesn't give you that rush anymore you feel burned out all the time you can't feel anything anymore. this is the czech capital prague crystal meth has been produced here for decades even during the cold war and after the fall of the berlin wall in 1989 the production increase chaplin and distributors began exporting their drugs to draw money these days czechs and vietnamese immigrants produce an estimated $10.00 tons of crystal meth every year a lot of it is shipped to neighboring germany. the national czech police have created a special division to come back drug crime the division's director is yakob. he
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says he and his officers face an enormous challenge. one of their main tasks is to chip away at the production of crystal meth as part of that effort police have raided more than 200 drug labs over the last 5 years but as soon as they shut down one lab another one opens up somewhere else. yet. it's also been able so the the situation has changed recently as my you sports no matter what of people you just go we're seeing that large organized crime groups which are made up mostly of be at mommy's immigrants are shifting large scale production of crystal meth to other countries you know russians in me i ships the body anything over 51015 or 20 kilograms is now produced outside the czech republic. not was i mean they start. in some raids officers have
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seized up to one ton of crystal meth but this work often involves cross border co-operation with police in other countries for it and it works closely with european customs author already is and the european law enforcement agency europol . and there's a new factor that's complicating the effort. the news was that we mexican drug cartels are now setting up operations in the netherlands it's early it's cool. here fleet which conducts an inspection tour along the czech german border. he explains that the mexican cartels have moved into the european market for crystal meth mostly because the czech government has cracked down hard on local drug dealers. free police department has been expanded over the past several years and they're
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making life difficult for those who produce and distribute crystal meth in the czech republic so the mexicans have stepped in to fill the gaps their network even includes some of the vietnamese immigrants who used to make their own meth. dutch dealers used to earn a lot of money by selling drugs like ecstasy or unfair means known as speed but now they can make even more by selling crystal meth. fleetly says that the mexican cartels have priced the vietnamese right out of the market thanks to low overhead. will be able to be can offer lower prices because they create so much product we're talking about hundreds of kilos of crystal meth even tons of it. they don't produce the stuff here because there's not
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much local demand for it. people used meth quite a bit in the early 1990 s. but not today certainly not enough to justify massive levels of production with all the. times are tough for small vietnamese shops along the czech german border particularly those that can supplement their income by selling crystal meth not many people come here to buy drugs anymore these days they're often delivered by a quarry or or people order drugs on the dark web and they arrive in the mail regardless of the method an estimated 5 tons of crystal meth reaches the german border region every year. roughly the same amount stays in the czech republic itself police managed to confiscate only about $100.00 kilos of it per year and despite what some officials say this country does have
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a serious problem with crystal meth addiction an estimated 35000 people are hooked on the drug. local producers are losing market share to meth that's shipped in from the netherlands and they're facing increased pressure from the german actually so. law enforcement agencies from both countries have been working closely together since 2007 when border controls were relaxed under the shannon agreement the joint center for german czech police and customs cooperation is located in the town of shunned off the area this facility is staffed around the clock officers exchange data follow up leads on drug cases organized searches and make arrests. all this information flows into the data bank at regional police headquarters in league
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with poor detective chief superintendent the 1st of those baggers says that crystal meth is a problem here but other drugs pose more of a threat. but insecure still insist based on our statistics the drugs that are seized most often by our officers are heroin and cannabis. they also represent the largest quantities of the drugs that are confiscated. we carry out fewer raids that involve crystal meth and we seize smaller amounts of it if you're still there when we make an. in 2019 just under 2 kilograms of crystal meth were seized in this part of bavaria that was about the middle of the pack among the various 7 administrative districts. regardless of the statistics the various health ministry has recently reported an increase in drug related deaths and drug users who've signed up for outpatient treatment how can we explain this discrepancy. is
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in with us has said as it does with the only drug cases that we hear about are the ones where the police get involved. and criminology and sociology experts make a distinction between crimes that are reported and those that aren't. so if police make a lot of drug arrests that will show up in the crime statistics and that's good. but if the police stopped investigating drug cases altogether the number of arrests would drop to 0 and the politicians would say that's good. police resources are stretched to the limit the authorities simply don't have the money or the personnel to track down everyone who produces and distributes crystal meth so criminal organizations like the mexican cartels feel free to move in but that may change soon. you know. over the last several years some
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german states have tried to add personnel where they can. the federal government has a. read to help state governments to do that but it's a slow process as an army officer stalking about us and police have lots of other priorities right now besides drug crimes. they also have to keep track of serious problems like islamist terrorism and right wing extremism extremist muslim terrorist most. so the effort to crack down on the use of crystal meth is pretty far down the list of police priorities meanwhile authorities have come up with an unusual new way to monitor the use of illegal drugs it involves analysis of sewage . the european anti-drug agency has been working with the score a group since 2011 to monitor of waste water for traces of illicit substances
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several german cities are taking part. here at the sewage treatment plant in nuremberg an employee collect samples that will then be sent to the score analysis center in dresden the results will help the authorities quantify the scope of drug abuse. the latest samples from nuremberg indicate that consumption of crystal meth has jumped 30 percent since 2017 lots of people are able to buy the drug despite the restrictions imposed because of the covert pandemic the study also shows high rates of meth consumption in the german states of the varia the range and saxony but where are the drugs coming from. tradition booked for high dollar screws to put it in the netherlands is moving
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ahead of the czech republic and the production of crystal meth will find this farm but are in for this because that's clear from the statistics for the number of drug seizures particularly in the german state of north. rhine-westphalia for those brutal and blind with fog and preliminary analysis and decades that the drugs were shipped from there to major german cities. next production facilities in the netherlands have done what the checks were never able to do flood big cities in western and central germany with large quantities of crystal meth. german authorities are calling for decisive action. called us crystal because a whole fish meal this is an open wound as far as crystal meth is concerned with it and i hope that we'll be able to cooperate more closely with our dutch colleagues and tomorrow in the middle of they've indicated that they're willing to help us in the vital group they don't want the netherlands to become the new center for meth
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production and they're ready to take action to do that because to mark to to become from dutch authorities often look the other way when it comes to the use of cash and marijuana but the last thing that they want is a new crystal meth industry run by mexican cartels. we're dealing with violent organized crime groups that distribute drugs on an international scale i think it would be naive to believe that we can solve this problem by legalizing bs drugs as i said we have to strengthen our efforts to stop these groups that includes taking away the profits they make from selling drugs. and drafting laws aimed at preventing money laundering as part of a larger overall strategy chrissy's of teams to read. new developments in international drug production and distribution require new law enforcement
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strategies among sebastien fiedler is top priorities at the creation of an investigative units that target crime groups and national centers for crime prevention. cities that have a meth problem would benefit from a national strategy on preventing drug addiction and drug abuse counselors would also welcome this development. now about vitamin family the counseling center in november in 1980 today 20 percent of the people who come to him for help are addicted to crystal meth he says treatment should also be part of an overall preventive strategy. we've seen this in ca to see how to get says just wondered if . the cost of addiction in our society is huge hundreds of billions a year. and in that calculation you have to include the cost of people who lose their jobs or go into treatment or end up in jail. and as crystal meth abuse moves
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into the middle class more and more people will be affected and that will push up the costs to tackle for me to sit in an attempt at smoking in peace because nowadays you can buy meth on the web and it'll be in your mailbox the next day. so we have to find the people who are using those sites and offer them help. but to do that we need a digital infrastructure is no hold it's just that includes technical experts but all that will cost a lot of money and we just can't seem to find it against us leslie true on this one knows that most politicians don't consider drug counseling to be a top priority. the mexican cartels offer technical support to the crews in holland that are making crystal meth. experts estimate that about 2 thirds
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of all the methods seized by police in germany is now produced in the netherlands. in dies of g l's reform t.v. show the cartels have been active in this market for the last decade and now they've become really powerful stuff that we need to do a lot more to keep them in check. the dutch government is trying to find new ways to stop the spread of illegal drugs but they have a lot of catching up to do which is that adding in the neighboring countries are not exactly satisfied with the job we've done so far. the dutch authorities don't really want to talk about the situation and still bill. drug abuse is a sensitive topic in the netherlands so it's no wonder that police are reluctant to talk about it were and they launch happens to look and historians synthetic drugs are part of our recent history that we started with amphetamines in the 1970 s.
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continued with ecstasy and now we've got a problem with crystal meth and the cartels as it's in mexico. and. the netherlands is ideally located for importing the raw materials that are used to make the drugs and there are 2 big ports rotterdam and then twerp. we are the gateway to europe and that's why the cartels want to take over this market. and if you're caught making drugs the penalties aren't very steff just a few years in jail it's an ideal situation for the cartel it's crucial that. the cartels earn about 20000000000 euros a year from the sale of synthetic drugs the profit margins are huge because the mexicans import cheap chemicals from asia to make the stuff. as the power of the cartels increases police have reported a surge in contract murders and assaults and have found drug labs in remote
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locations in may 2020 dutch police raided a lab and seized chemicals and crystal meth worth an estimated 10000000 euros. the lab was located on a farm near a village just 20 kilometers from the german border police arrested several suspects including one each from mexico colombia and the united states. the raid was successful because dutch investigators had worked with police agencies in other countries to track the crooks a special police unit kept the suspects under constant surveillance and a lot of hard work finally paid off. i collect called the police she didn't pick up the investigation in the run up to the raid took several months. police managed to break into the criminals phones and decrypt their messages of the
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guards this allowed investigators in france germany and the netherlands to monitor their conversations for months. but will this kind of international cooperation be enough to stop the spread of crystal meth. these english and de botton does invite i print through the policy documents of all the major political parties and they seem to be focused on how to fight the use of cannabis find politicians think it's a sexy topic and there are no proposals for dealing with more dangerous drugs like crystal meth emitted in crystal meth and under one hot and or. last seen child in the new straight shot and we have to confront this problem head on let's talk to the people who are actually using drugs and offer them counseling as part of an overall preventive strategies to fish to death for even see these are told in sanaa
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english and it can mock truants mention dissidents who these drugs are ruining people's lives we can't ignore this kind of drug abuse and tell ourselves that everything's fine is that people keep trying these drugs and then they become addicted to the drug abuse can destroy families people can lose their jobs because of it and some users end up in the psychiatric ward and some users end up dead it's a serious problem isn't it. criminal groups are simply providing huzoor it's with the drugs that they want to buy perhaps we should focus on how to keep people from taking drugs in the 1st place. i don't want to keep using crystal meth forever it just ruins your life. you can't ignore the effect it has on your mind and body. it makes you paranoid about
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things that no one else would notice. more and more people in here are are using crystal meth we have to deal with this problem before it gets any worse and the best way to do that is to develop a comprehensive prevention strategy that combines effective police measures with counseling in treatment for drug users who may be at risk.
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is t w news coming to you live from berlin india's cupboard 19 death toll surpasses 200000 its darkest hour of the pandemic so far shortages of oxygen medical supplies and hospital stuff compound the problem of infections tearing through the country also coming up $5000.00 music fans rocking out it europe's biggest indoor concert since the start of the pandemic organizers say it wasn't a super spreader bed we take a look at how it works plus the collapsed.
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