Good. Time to finally put those dealers in Görli (largely) out of business.
For non-locals: that's Görlitzer Park, Berlin, which has largely been owned (and rendered nearly useless) by the dealers for several years now (along with the neighboring streets, and a good chunk of the recreational land on the canal zone nearby).
I find it hard to believe marijuana is the only substance dealers in a park serving an urban center with a penchant for clubs/night life like Berlin are peddling...
My impression is that weed is their main source of revenue. So legalizing it would make dealing A LOT less profitable.
Also, the group of potential weed buyers is pretty large and diverse, meaning they need to approach pretty much everyone. The group of potential buyers for harder party drugs is more easy to identify, hence you can stop asking everyone.
AIUI weed is generally the least consequential when busted for dealing, so it's the most visible entrypoint dealers openly broadcast on the street.
Weed is like the cover charge at the door. Cocaine, meth, fent, mdma, lsd, shrooms, etc. are the drinks served at the bar.
If this is anywhere near a correct understanding, legalizing weed would cause little/no reduction in the activity. It would lessen the potential consequences for dealing weed even further, while "drinks at the bar" continue being served.
We'd need to legalize and regulate all drugs, and do so without taxing it so much the black market continues to thrive via lower prices.
Non-legal Cannabis in Germany is a surprisingly low margin product; profit is made through volume, which increases risk exposure. So it's not amazing for dealers, despite the large demand.
It's abundance leads to a very competitive market (in Ballungsgebieten), like in other markets substitution though home production is always looming.
For dealers in Berliner parks, there's also always competition with more reputable informal suppliers as well as medical trickle downs or substitutes.
This leads to the incentive for dealers to steer consumption towards products with higher margin (or an increase of margin through lesser quality product).
Strange impressions you have and totally disagree. The park is vibrant and full of kids and families over the day.. dealers don't even annoy you usually if you signal strong non-interest or don't fall into typical buyer group.. you can even walk safely through the park at darker times when you stick to the big ways (though I mean to feel safe, I'd say you are almost safe everywhere as safe as you can be in a big german city in darker places everywhere... you are likely even safer there because enough people around vs other scary places)
Yes, they can make a bad and for some an intimidating appearance, and make others mad, but "making the park useless" is a gross exaggeration... how often are you there, and where you from? Just curious..
Most of these people are not as bad, and while this film sure tells a story, I'd suggest to watch the modern version of "Berlin Alexanderplatz" just to get another perspective.
"The park is vibrant and full of kids and families over the day.. dealers don't even annoy you usually if you signal strong non-interest or don't fall into typical buyer group."
Yeah, that's where I want to take my kids, where the "drug dealers don't annoy us if we're not interested"... you must have very high annoyance thresholds.
You are both right, in my opinion. It’s fine if you can get over the dealers on every corner. The park is full in the summer and children play there. The dealers behave well and won’t harm you, but there are dealers on every corner.
Yeah, I guess compared to the demimonde of 1920s Berlin one could say it's pretty tame.
But by that, and the other indications you are providing - "some are intimidating, some not... you can even walk safely at night if you stick to the large paths" are what I mean by falling fall short of the standards of what one expects from nice, decent and inviting city park.
As for the kids and families there during the day - it's not like they have much choice.
Where you from?
Let's just say I've lived in plenty of places in Europe - not necessarily 24-hour party people destinations like Berlin, but definitely not backwaters either - where one didn't have to think twice about taking a walk in the park at night.
I also remember a Berlin from not too long ago when it was ugly and decrepit (if in a beautiful way), for sure - but where one didn't need to be on one's guard in so many places, as now.
They haven't, the park is still very popular, with kids, cyclists, runners, &c.
You just have a bunch of people saying "hey do you want something?" when you get in/out. There even is a petting zoo inside the park, it's far from a no man's land. In summer it's full of people sunbathing &c.
It's kind of an open secret that police allows them here so that they don't proliferate everywhere else. This open secret contract means they're also mostly harmless and police are patrolling around the park very often.
For non-locals: that's Görlitzer Park, Berlin, which has largely been owned (and rendered nearly useless) by the dealers for several years now (along with the neighboring streets, and a good chunk of the recreational land on the canal zone nearby).