The drug scene is spreading in the Westend – pressure on the city of Frankfurt is growing

Created: 03/01/2022Updated: 03/01/2022 11:36 am

Syringes from drug users were often found on the playground, which is located at Elsa-Brändström-Platz in the Westend.

© Monika Mueller

According to the local advisory board, there are increasing problems with the use of hard drugs on the open street in the south of Frankfurt's Westend.

Frankfurt – According to the local advisory board 2 (Bockenheim, Kuhwald, Westend), in the southern west end there are increasing problems with the consumption of hard drugs on the open street.

The district committee has therefore, with an application from the Greens, SPD and Left, advocated that the city of Frankfurt* must take action to help drug addicts and protect residents, as reported by fr.de*.

The committee demands that parks and playgrounds should be cleaned more frequently and trash cans emptied more often in order to protect playing children from the “sometimes dangerous legacies” of the addicts and to prevent ongoing littering.

Outreach social work should work more to ensure that drug users do not leave their utensils lying around, but rather dispose of them at the appropriate places.

Long-term and sustainable solutions are needed, which the city of Frankfurt should examine and implement.

Frankfurt: residents complain about drug paraphernalia on the playground

According to the will of the local advisory board, the administration should ensure that drug users are no longer pushed out of the station district in the southern west end.

Instead, they would have to be “appropriately cared for and cared for in the existing facilities”.

The Frankfurt district politicians want the conditions in the accommodation for drug addicts to be adjusted if necessary, so that they no longer sleep in the residential areas.

In addition, outreach social work is to be reviewed, adjusted and, if necessary, temporarily expanded to the southern West End.

The reason for the application was complaints from residents around Elsa-Brändström-Platz after drug paraphernalia had been found several times on the playground there, explains Green Party leader Katrin Haus.

Nothing had happened there since there were regular checks.

The responsible policeman on site, Dennis Metz, confirms this on request.

The quarter will continue to be patrolled.

"We react immediately if something pops up again."

Frankfurt: Pressure in the station district is driving the drug scene to the Westend

According to the local advisory board, the problem must be “considered and tackled holistically,” says Katrin Haus.

Due to the gentrification of the Frankfurt train station district, drug addicts would be displaced in large parts of the southern west end.

In addition, the situation of drug addicts has deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to the justification for the proposal, there are fewer outpatient and inpatient offers of help.

As a result, the open consumption of hard drugs, the corresponding legacies and spending the night outdoors in and around the Frankfurt train station district is an increasing problem and annoyance for residents*.

Since the pressure on consumers within the station district is increasing, the local advisory board believes that there will be a displacement to the surrounding districts such as the southern Westend.

Frankfurt: "In exchange with drug help organizations"

The request from the local advisory board 2 is currently being examined, says Kirsten Gerstner from the health department.

"We are in constant contact with the drug help agencies", among other things to motivate drug addicts to accept the existing diverse offers of help from drug help in Frankfurt.

"The situation in Westend, which is adjacent to the station district, has been observed and processed for a long time, the visiting social workers as well as the state and city police, the prevention council and the city's cleaning staff are regularly on site." Brändström-Platz, for example, is cleaned more frequently.

Ökolinx voted against the bill.

CDU and FDP abstained.

You had submitted your own motion on the subject, which did not find a majority.

The situation of drug addicts plays no role in it.