ROW OVER HAMBURG'S ANTI-DRUGS POLICY

A suspected drugs dealer is fighting for his life in the north German city
of Hamburg, after police forced him to take an emetic to make him vomit up
narcotics he had swallowed. The case has stirred up a new row over the use
of emetics, which are being used in several German cities to secure
evidence against narcotics suspects.

Several opposition politicians and Hamburg's medical association are
calling for a halt to the forced administration of the drugs.

The case is also putting pressure on Hamburg's controversial new interior
minister, former judge Ronald Schill, whose new Law and Order Offensive
Party won a surprise 19% of the vote in the city-state's elections three
months ago.

Mr Schill, nicknamed "the judge without mercy" for his rulings from the
bench, has promised to clean up Hamburg's notorious drugs problem.

The wealthy city - Germany's second largest - has one of the highest crime
rates in the country.

Mr Schill announced an investigation into the incident but also insisted
that the authorities would continue to use emetics.

He said this was the first time that their use had caused serious medical
complications.

The 19-year old alleged drugs dealer, an asylum seeker from Cameroon, was
unlikely to survive, a spokeswoman of Hamburg's Justice Ministry said on
Tuesday.

The man had a heart attack on Sunday and fell into a coma after being given
the herbal emetic ipecacuahna while in custody.

'I will die'

The suspect had resisted taking the substance, screaming "I will die" while
several officers held him down, according to a local official.

Police later found 41 small capsules of crack cocaine in his stomach.

The leader of Hamburg's Green Party, Krista Sager, has called for a halt to
the use of emetics, especially if administered against the will of a suspect.

Her demands were echoed by the city's medical association. Its president,
Frank Ulrich Montgomery, said his organisation would support doctors who
refuse to administer the drug.

But the police said it needs emetics to secure evidence against drugs dealers.

New rules

The main opposition party, the Social Democrats, said the case highlighted
serious shortfalls in way the authorities had handled a medical emergency.

Ironically, the use of emetics was first authorised by Hamburg's previous
government - a coalition of Social Democrats, who ruled the city for 44
years, and the Greens.

But only last week, Hamburg's new centre-right coalition relaxed the rules
under which emetics can be administered.