INTERVIEW WITH WERNER SCHNEIDER, CITY OF FRANKFURT (GERMANY)

Over the 20 years that he has been involved in counselling drug users and
shaping drug policy in the city, 46-year-old Werner Schneider has succeeded
where others had long given up. Convinced that Frankfurt desperately needed
a special local government drug agency as the problem reached crisis point
in the late 80s, Schneider approached the Green party with a press release
which he himself had written in the run-up to the 1989 municipal elections.
Although not affiliated to any political party, Schneider felt that the
zero-tolerance approach advocated up to then had only exacerbated the
problem. The press release was an appeal for a change of direction in drug
policy at public level. A change of government brought a change of heart,
and Schneider became director of the new drug agency introduced in 1989.
Until his removal as director by Health Minister Albrecht Glaser (CDU) in
December 1996, Schneider played an instrumental role in the introduction of
an innovative programme which provided medical and social help for addicts
and greater co-operation between police, public health authorities and
politicians in the battle against drugs. The results have been phenomenal:
The number of deaths of drug users has dropped by over 80 percent over the
past five years. Through drug prevention schemes, the amount of young
people drawn into the scene has dropped significantly. Drug-related crime
such as mugging and theft is falling, and the spread of HIV among addicts
is at a controllable level. Schneider has always believed that the only way
to begin solving the drug problem is to pool expertise and experience
across affected cities. It was for this reason that he pushed for regular
international conferences and meetings which resulted in the signing of the
Frankfurt Resolution in 1990. He was also one of the founders of the
association of European Cities on Drug Policy. He was invited late last
year to speak at a drugs conference in Colombia, source of much of the
world's illegal drugs. Although he admits that, while the problem may be
more under control in Frankfurt, the battle has not been won. Many dealers
have moved to outlying areas. But the way ahead is through co-operation.
And that is half the battle.

Frankfurt once had one of the worst heroin scenes in Germany, with up to
5,000 addicts converging daily on the Taunusanlage to get their fix. But
over the past five years, the open drugs scene in the city has mostly
disappeared. Four crisis centres are in operation, over 1,000 drug users
are on methadone treatment programmes, and the number of deaths resulting
from drug abuse has dropped dramatically. Moreover, Frankfurt's expertise
in dealing with the problem of illegal drugs is in international demand.
Werner Schneider, head of the city's drug agency (Drogenreferat) for seven
years until 1996, is now in charge of assessing the city's drug policy, and
is co-founder of the Frankfurt Resolution and European Cities on Drug Policy.

Maincity: How did Frankfurt come to be the drugs capital of Germany?

Schneider: Frankfurt is only one of a number of drugs centres in Germany,
another major one being Hamburg. This is not because Frankfurt is a bad
city. Rather it has to do with the fact that Frankfurt and cities such as
Hamburg are centres for trade, traffic and finance. And the illegal
international drugs trade relies on the advantages which such cities offer.
This means that illegal drugs are always available in these cities, at all
times of the day and night. Frankfurt, by way of the airport, is very close
to Medel92n (Colombia) and the Golden Triangle.

Maincity: When did the use of illegal drugs become prevalent in Frankfurt,
and how did drugs policy develop over the years as the problem worsened?

Schneider: Compared to the US and England, the use of illegal drugs such as
heroin started relatively late in Frankfurt. It wasn't until the late 60s
that heroin became evident as a mass drug in Germany. But then, over the
next 20 years, it was thought that the only way of dealing with the problem
was to try and eradicate it completely, through police and law enforcement
intervention.

Maincity: Was the same policy pursued elsewhere?

Schneider: The only exception would be Holland, which adopted a policy of
limited harm early on. In Frankfurt, with the emergence of consumer drugs
and an D2openD3 drugs scene towards the end of the 70s, there was an
attempt to prohibit and repress both addicts and dealers. It was thought
that the only way to deal with addicts was through treatment, but a
precondition for help was absolute abstention not only from drugs, but also
from alcohol. If an addict took alcohol during therapy, he was also thrown
out. I was a drugs counsellor at the time, soI was very much involved. Of
course, many addicts said they wanted to give up, but we realized that they
couldn't. The result was that by 1989 the drugs scene in Frankfurt had not
disappeared, it was bigger than ever. And it was more open and prevalent
than ever, especially in the Taunusanlage in the city centre. During the
summer, there was a permanent contingent of up to 1,000 addicts hanging
around every day, but at times up to 5,000 addicts would go there to get
their fix.

Maincity: Frankfurt's drug agency (Drogenreferat) was founded in 1989. In
the first few years police, politicians and social workers were working
independently. Now all parties are working closely together.

Schneider: Yes, at that time we didnD5t just work independently of one
another, we worked against one another. Drugs counsellors saw themselves as
advocates of the addicts, whom they felt they had to protect from the
police. The police perceived and treated drugs counsellors as accomplices
to the addicts. The results were catastrophic, and it became obvious that
the situation couldn't continue like that. Twenty years of police
repression had only succeeded in moving the entire open drugs scene around
the city in a complete circle. It was then that we initiated the weekly
round-table meetings (Montagsrunde).

Maincity: The Montagsrunde was a weekly meeting of politicians, public
health authorities, police, social workers, public prosecutor's office and
other relevant parties, set up to find better ways of dealing with the
situation. Why the change of heart?

Schneider: The problems had reached crisis point by the late 80s. Also, the
change of government in 1989 from CDU to an SPD-Green coalition brought a
different political accent to the question of drug policy in Frankfurt. I
had approached the Greens with the idea ofa drug agency in the city, which
they then made part of their political manifesto. The Montagsrunde was a
very effective way of trying out new approaches. Because of the threat of
AIDS, for example, we agreed to set up a support bus in the Taunusanlage
where addicts could obtain fresh needles and emergency medical help. After
two or three weeks of heated debate, we reached a compromise with the
police whereby they agreed to accept the existence of the open drugs scene
in the Taunusanlage and not intervene if less than 500 addicts hung out
there. They also set up their own bus at a distance. That meant that we
could try and tackle two problems at once: the health issue and the public
problem. Together we developed a programme with the aim of solving the
problems of crime and illness, which through the policy of repression had
become interwoven. Separating the problems of crime and illness meant that
we could help the drug addicts more effectively on the one hand while
fighting associated crime on the other. We built up crisis centres and
introduced other relief measures. And for the most part, all of this was
done unbureaucratically. Then, in November 1992, it was decided that the
Taunusanlage drug scene needed to be dissolved altogether. But the
difference this time was that for the first time in 20 years there was
effective medical help and social counselling available for addicts.

Maincity: How successful has the programme been?

Schneider: The picture has changed drastically as a result of the measures
which we introduced. The number of drug addicts dying has gone down by 80
percent since 1992. Drug-related crime such as mugging and theft has fallen
markedly. Although AIDS among drug addicts has not been stopped completely,
we now feel that we can treat the disease much more effectively because we
are in direct contact with the patients. There is no longer an open drugs
scene in Frankfurt. The drug addicts are taking the help we offer. Some
have succeeded in coming off heroin completely, and those addicts who form
the core part of the problem in Frankfurt, namely long-term chronic fixers,
are also eagerly accepting the help. Some 1,200 addicts are currently on
methadone treatment programmes, and over 30 percent of these are no longer
using illegal drugs.

Maincity: What about the dealers? Have they now gone underground?

Schneider: One effect of our programme and of dissolving the Taunusanlage
was that the dealers were suddenly isolated. They could no longer disappear
into the milieu of addicts and crime, and this effect was maintained by the
day-to-day co-operation network between drugs aid workers and police. Of
course, some dealers have gone underground. Others have developed new
methods of dealing. But another change has occurred: the market has become
decentralized. Many dealers have left Frankfurt.

Maincity: The Frankfurter Weg has since gained international recognition.
Other cities now want to learn something from Frankfurt. What has changed
in drug policy world-wide?

Schneider: Frankfurt is only relevant for two reasons: Firstly, because of
our model of close co-operation within the Montagsrunde, we have learned a
lot from cities such as Liverpool, England, where the first co-operation
project between public health authorities and police was introduced. And
secondly, because we held a conference in 1990 in Frankfurt, where the
Frankfurt Resolution was signed. The problems were reaching crisis point.
In 1991, 147 people died on the streets in the city centre D0 that was one
almost every two days. The Frankfurt Resolution was a set of guidelines
agreeing on the continuous exchange of experience and co-operation with
respect to drugs policy between large metropolitan centres affected by the
drugs problem. The Frankfurt Resolution has since been signed by over 30
cities including Baltimore and San Fransisco in the US and Canberra in
Australia.

Maincity: There are attempts to introduce a pilot programme at federal
level for the controlled distribution of heroin to a select number of
addicts. Is this the solution?

Schneider: It's not the ultimate solution. The only way really to solve the
problem is to create a form of legality. With the test programme we are
saying to addicts: You don't have to go to dealers. You can go to your
doctor and have it prescribed. The problems are then in safer hands. Heroin
is addictive, but it is not physically harmful; not like alcohol for
example. We have to accept that this addiction exists in our society. We
can also prevent addicts from contracting additional illness caused by
using impure substances. We can help them to survive, and then, once
they've regained their health, become socially reintegrated and begin to
develop a perspective on life, we can try to help them overcome their
addiction.