DOPE STORIES episode 1: Berlin Hbahn

Berlin street drug scene is known to be violent and ruthless: junkies screwing each other, dealers arguing and fighting in the middle of platforms… and the U8 has always had a bad reputation. It connects Berlin’s districts of Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Wedding. The immigrant and low income population of those areas have been affected by this issue but the authorities keep on giving them the blind eye. Police shows off at rush hour in front of families and white collars, putting on a show busting some kids trying to make ends meet by dealing. 5 minutes later, once the spectacle is over… back to business.

Let’ s be honest, nobody really cares about those “junkies”, often from another country, not speaking the language, robbing and stealing to feed their habits… why bother? But here is the thing: heroin doesn’t discriminate. Our society is putting its youngest generation under so much social and financial pressure that anxiety, depression and other mental disorders are skyrocketing. More and more people self-medicate: Xanax, clonazepam, weed, valium, oxy, percocet, adderoll…. and here comes the U8.

Now the situation has worsened, “Kotty” is obviously not the terminal, the train also passes thought Mitte, between Weinmeisterstraße and Bernuer Straße where many IT and creative companies have employees who work and also play hard. Statistics show that they are increasingly using narcotics (specifically meth and heroin) to get them though their day. I encountered on the infamous U-Bahn an Italian backend developer, a British graphic designer, a tattoo artist with wife and child, a PR girl working in the club scene… the list of pinhole pupils goes on and on. The cliché of the homeless, filthy junkie is no longer. Our system and its capitalistic values -with the help of pharmaceutical companies- created the perfect breeding ground for addiction to spread and reach a whole new slice of the population.

The current opioid crisis in the US woke up the world and we are finally starting understanding that addiction is a disease and not a choice. If willpower was the solution, more people would get clean. Studies proves it - look it up :)

So where do we go from there? should we go on with the “war on drugs”? We’ve seen the results in the US since the 80’s and the crack epidemic: mass incarceration, deaths, and nothing has changed in the street, only the type of drugs…

The solution has already been found though: decriminalization and legalization. Portugal and Switzerland, two countries who faced major health crisis due to the use of heroin, legalized prescription heroin and put in place HAT (Heroin Assisted Treatment): providing people suffering of addiction with medical grade diamorphine (heroin) injectable in a clean site under supervision along with comprehensive rehabilitation programs. Since its inception, the number of new heroin users in Switzerland has declined. Drug overdose deaths dropped by 64%. HIV infections dropped by 84%. Home thefts dropped by 98%. And the Swiss prosecute 75% fewer opioid-related drug cases each year.

Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) have proven efficient for governments to keep its people under control and addicted for life… Methadone was never designed to be stopped but as a life-long treatment. Tapering off the drug is nearly impossible given the severity and length of the withdrawals and Post Acute Withdrawal Symptoms, but only addicts know this. Studies (also conducted in Germany in the early 2000’s) showed that HAT’s main long-term benefit does not materialize through life-long maintenance, but by stabilizing and readying many of its patients for other simpler therapeutic interventions or even abstinence. Despite the positive results of completed HAT trials, in Germany, politicians have failed to convert the study into actual HAT programs as part of their treatment system… Why is that? Too many taboos to break for the general population? Maybe. Control over people? Most likely. Keep people sedated and they won’t strike, protest or riot against their government. Solutions and alternatives to MMT exist, yet we’ve been using the same treatment methods for more than 50 years. Addiction is the only disease where researches and treatments are kept away from the patients who are too often reproached of being sick… It’s time for a change.

Truth be told, society needs to shift its view on drugs, stop stigmatizing users and start seeing addiction for what it is: a mental disease. Then, and only then, we’ll be able to move toward a cure.