In recent years, crystal meth use seems to have exploded in Germany, particularly along the Czech border. As researchers are discovering, the population of users is much more diverse than many people expect.
The police received the emergency call at six o’clock in the morning on a Sunday. Patrick (not his real name) was screaming into his phone: “I’m being shot at!” Police special forces moved in — and, when they got there, discovered that a light bulb in Patrick’s IKEA lamp had exploded.
Only a few weeks later, the ambulance was called back to Patrick’s residence in the Bavarian city of Landshut. The 30-year-old had jumped out of the third floor window of his pre-war building in a panic. He had broken his shin in two places and splintered his heel bone because he thought he was being pursued by the Mafia.