So, I was reading the Frankfurter Allgemeine and there’s a big problem with crystal meth growing in Germany.

Unfortunately, the problem stems from the Czech Republic, which has come to be known as “Europe’s meth kitchen” according to one German official in another article on the same subject. The ingredients to make meth are easily obtained in Poland, then shipped here and manufactured into product and from there, they go into Germany.

So in addition to being known as “Europe’s bordello” (another dubious distinction) we’re now being recognized as a major meth-manufacturing point as well.

Here’s the article in the original German from the Frankfurter Allgemeine; you can run it through GoogleTranslate.

faz.net

The FA article notes, correctly, that the Czech Republic has very lax drug-possession laws. You can possess two grams of weed here and it’s considered nothing more than a trivial offense. Unfortunately, you can also possess up to two grams of meth (it’s called Pervitin here, the old trade name for methamphetamine) and face an $800 fine and pretty much no jail time whatsoever. They were supposed to change that, and lower the amount for meth to half a gram, but I don’t know if the Czech government has ever gotten around to that. You can see people openly smoking weed here; that’s not a problem. I’ve seen people doing so while walking down the street.