The number of drug offenses detected in 2021 fell by a good one percent compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the Federal Criminal Police Office found 361,000 cases. Drug trafficking, on the other hand, is said to have increased. In the case of cocaine, the quantity seized even doubled.
Drug trafficking is increasing in Germany. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden announced that almost 56,000 drug trafficking offenses were registered last year. This corresponds to an increase of 2.9 percent compared to the previous year.
According to the investigators, the number of drug offenses - including possession and acquisition - fell slightly by a little more than one percent to a total of around 361,000 cases. Most of the drugs seized by the police and customs were smuggled to Germany by land and sea. The Internet has continued to establish itself as a sales channel, the BKA said at the presentation of the "Federal Situation Report on Drug Crime 2021".
"The current figures make it clear that we must become faster, more consistent and better both in the prosecution of professional drug criminals and in prevention and addiction support. We must do more to ensure that people do not even resort to dangerous drugs, or if they do do it, get rid of it again," said the Federal Government Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues, Burkhard Blienert.
Trafficking in cannabis accounted for nearly 60 percent of all crimes, an increase of just over 3 percent. When drugs are seized, an increase in the quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine in particular can be observed. The quantity of cocaine seized in the 2021 reporting year more than doubled to at least 23 tons (2020: at least 11 tons). In the case of methamphetamine, the quantity seized increased by 25 percent to at least 363.1 kilograms (2020: 290.5 kg) across all manifestations, i.e. powder, crystalline and liquid.
1,826 people died last year as a result of their drug addiction. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, this corresponds to an increase of 15.5 percent year-on-year.
