Overview

• Hendrik Streeck says new synthetic opioids, including nitazenes up to 500 times stronger than heroin, can be fatal in pencil‑tip amounts and are increasingly found in circulation.
• He warns that drugs are now ordered on the Darknet and even regular websites and delivered by taxi directly to homes, making youth access easier and enforcement harder.
• Streeck identifies crack as his biggest concern, noting that a single hit can trigger lasting dependence and that no substitution therapy exists for this stimulant.
• Germany recorded the second-highest number of drug deaths last year at roughly six per day, with a 14 percent rise among people under 30, according to Streeck.
• He also flags rising youth use of candy-flavored vapes and notes that initial findings from the cannabis law evaluation are due on October 1.