Crystal makes waves

In Germany, that's what they generally call meth.

Since we started the day with a tobacco post, we'll provide a recap on a few reports in recent months about the rise of crystal meth.

For linguists, it makes sense that they call it crystal, given the unease of most German native speakers with the "th" sound.

Historically, amphetamines come out of the long series of German chemistry prowess, and by now it is widely known that the nazis dished out amphetamines mixed into chocolate bars to their soldiers. Had we known earlier, World War II might well have been called the speed war instead of the blitzkrieg.

Apparently, quite a bit of the new meth wave is coming in from the Czech republic's Vietnamese markets but other reports talk of rising numbers of labs in Germany, too.

While the arguments around drugs are interchangeable everywhere, the European focus is different from that in the US, making Europeans watch the American drug war with horror and bemusement.

Coming from the US, it does feel strange when you walk through Frankfurt behind a group of police who pass five or six folks smoking crack on the sidewalk without so much as a second glance.

In a recent nationwide poll, Germans put the police and craftsmen at the top of the most trusted professionals in the country. It was probably not the downtown Frankfurt crackhead vote that got them there but a wider perception of reasonable law enforcement. Politicians came in....yes, you guessed right.