SURVEY OF GERMAN LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS 6 FEB 99

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten, (http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de) whilst
acknowledging the slight decrease in the number of drug related fatalities,
points to the fact that every fourth victim was previously a member of a
methadone subsititute program. Instead of the ‘golden shot’, the use of
medication and alcohol is the chief cause of death amongst drug addicts.
The number of emergency interventions in Stuttgart rose to 113 in 1998 and
the number of fatalities from 15 to 25.

The Frankfurter Neue Presse (http://www.rhein-main.net) comments on the
figures recently released by the federal health ministry which show that
more than a quarter of all those aged 18-24 have tried marihuana. That
makes it, according to Wolfgang Schmidt, executive secretary of the state
office for drug consultation, the ‘most widely used illegal drug’. In the
introduction to a new info-brochure titled "Is Marihuana a Sin Then?" he
acknowledges that horror stories don’t work. We are trying to reach people
with informaation which "will enable them to assess the degree of risk
associated with the use of illegal drugs."

The Nürnberger Nachrichten (http://www.nn-online.de) publishes a lengthy
article under the headline, "Heroin too pure: six dead in five weeks".
Hundreds of leaflets have been distributed in the most heavily affected
areas of the city. These give an emergency number to call and stress that
in the case of a suspected overdose, the call for help should be made
immediately. The heroin being currently sold is said to be four to five
times the usual strength.