Overview
- Consumption in Berlin drug rooms reached about 23,000 crack uses in 2024, roughly 9,000 more than in 2023, and providers report further increases this year.
- Crack’s share of use at two Vista facilities rose from 3.5% in 2022 to 30% in 2024, with a marked rise again in 2025, according to the operator.
- Berlin police logged consumption-related cocaine and crack offenses climbing from 762 in 2015 to 2,474 in 2024, reflecting a widening street presence.
- The drug’s short, intense high drives compulsive use and rapid decline, and Germany recorded 2,137 drug-related deaths in 2024, including 294 in Berlin.
- With no substitution medication available, outreach leaders urge more low-threshold and potentially 24-hour services and additional consumption rooms, cite Swiss street-medical teams as a model, and note a Charité mapping study due in March.