The number of drug-related offenses registered by the police in Brandenburg has almost doubled in the past six years. In 2019, the crime statistics showed 9616 cases, 992 more than in the previous year, as the Interior Ministry in Potsdam announced when asked by the AfD parliamentary group. Compared to 2013, the number of these crimes increased by 4,472 cases.
The clearance rate fluctuated between 93 and 94 percent over the years because most crimes are noticed when the perpetrators are caught. The undisclosed number of undetected acts in this area is huge.
One-third of the perpetrators under the age of 21
The number of suspects also increased by around three quarters in the reporting period. It rose from 4,456 in 2013 to 7,838 in the previous year. The vast majority of suspected drug dealers were Germans (just under 90 percent). Poles, Syrians, Afghans, and Russians were among the criminals of non-German origin.
According to statistics, there are more and more very young drug dealers. In 2013, 28 percent of the suspected perpetrators were between 14 and 20 years old. This age group had risen to 36 percent last year.
With the number of suspects, the number of convicts increased. In 2018, the criminal courts delivered 903 judgments, almost twice as many as in 2013 (493 judgments). The Ministry of the Interior has not yet released any figures for the past year. Most of the judgments concerned the illicit possession of drugs, followed by cultivation, manufacture, and trade, and import and export.
Cannabis popular in Brandenburg
According to the State Office for Addiction, the most widespread drugs in Brandenburg are cannabis and stimulants, such as amphetamine. According to official figures, the number of drug-related deaths in Brandenburg rose from 5 in 2013 to 37 in 2018. No official information is available for the federal states for 2019. According to the federal government, 1,398 people across Germany died in 2019 from the use of illegal drugs. That was 122 deaths or 9.6 percent more than in 2018.
