It is easy to obtain, cheap and causes extreme psychological dependency. Crack, a smokable form of cocaine, is spreading. For a long time, crack consumption in this country was limited to cities such as Hamburg, Hanover and Frankfurt am Main, but in recent years other cities have also observed a significant increase in this drug - apparently including Berlin.

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The Contrasts reporters are out and about in Dortmund, among other places, speaking in front of the camera with people whose addiction to crack is making them impoverished. They visit cities where crack is openly prepared and sold on the streets. And they accompany the police in Berlin when they check crack addicts who are drinking in public and search the house of a suspected dealer.

In the middle of wealthy Düsseldorf, they visit a tent city in which the poorest of the poor live - these are images that have previously only been known from the USA.

Residents nationwide do not want to accept the impoverishment of their cities. They demand that politicians come up with concepts for dealing with crack. However, we are still a long way from real solutions.

First broadcast September 6th, 2023/rbb
Image: IMAGO / Shotshop

#drug addiction #crack #documentation #reportage #prevention #crack addiction #dealer