It is debatable whether any report on the death toll from substance abuse can be described as good news. But the German government's 2002 annual drug overview, usually an unbroken list of sobering statistics, showed signs that concerted government efforts to contain the spread of hard drugs and their effects were helping to reduce casualties.

In total, the number of drug deaths in Germany fell 17.5 percent in 2002, with 1,513 reported fatalities. This marks a continued decline that follows on from the 9.6 percent drop in 2001. The report showed that more people fell victim to their addiction in West German regions than in the east.

More socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol and tobacco continue to be the big killers in Germany. More than 40,000 people died from alcohol-related problems in 2002 with 110,000 of Germany's 16.7 million smokers dying from diseases arising from their habit. Young people continue to be most at risk from both.

"Alcohol abuse is still trivialized in our society," said Marion Caspers-Merk, the government's drug czar. "Its consequences, along with smoking, are underestimated and played down."

Club drugs continue to be popular

The report did carry some positive news regarding "hard" drugs with more users now perceiving the potentially lethal drug heroin as unpopular within the drug scene. However, the preference for synthetic substances, like the club drug ecstasy, was on the rise.

This is a worrying trend that was highlighted in the full year report for 2001. The number of people who took ecstasy rose 11 percent in that year, according to police reports, and it was estimated at the time that three to four percent of young people in Germany were consuming "designer" drugs or other amphetamines.

Despite, the escalation of "recreational" drugs in Germany, the 2002 overview continues to show that new levels of general health awareness and increased medical help and support in Germany are beginning to win minor battles in the war on drugs. But it also highlights the extent of the problem the authorities continue to face.

Heroin, cocaine use decreases

Drug consumption in Germany has remained alarmingly high despite measures aimed at cutting the numbers of addicts. Figures released last year showed the number of heroin addicts in the country to be somewhere between 120,000 and 150,000. Consumption of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine fell slightly in 2001 and the hallucinogenic drug LSD also showed signs of losing popularity amongst users.

Last year the German government opened an emergency unit in Bonn for heroin addicts, where regulated and legal doses of heroin could be administered to hard-core addicts.

The Bonn clinic treats over 100 addicts, half receiving pure heroin, the other half the substitute drug methadone. Both groups also undergo psychological and social counseling and will also receive general medical care.

Swiss success model

The program is based on the successful Swiss model that showed improved health in addicts involved in the project. Clinics in Switzerland a noted a reduction in disease and death when addicts were provided with sanitary conditions to shoot up in. There were also few signs that diverted heroin from the program was making it onto the black market and therefore street crime attributed to heroin was reduced.

But the successful treatment of a few addicts is a drop in the ocean compared to the continued threat to those still on the streets from cheap heroin flooding into Germany through the porous border with Poland and from Balkan drug gangs who have established themselves in the country.