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But the narcotics control officer found a solution and met instead with another former Gestapo agent, one named Ackermann, an "able, energetic, and intelligent" ex-Nazi who "was able to give [Giuliani] all the information that Mittelhaus could" have given him, including on drug smugglers and their current whereabouts. Ackermann could also provide copies of Gestapo forms for reporting narcotics offenses and instructions for Nazi drug policemen in active service. Such documents were of interest to the American, potential blueprints for forms he might use himself. At these meetings Ackermann lamented that the old Nazi law was "being distorted through diverse interpretation, and [was] losing some of its efficiency thereby." Giuliani in turn hoped that "the activities of the working party here in Berlin would tend to correct this."

The American was sorry that he couldn't put Ackermann on the payroll, but said, "I feel certain that, in our Zone, he would fall through denazification." One thing, however, seemed clear to Giuliani: The only course of action with any hope of successfully getting a handle on the unchecked drug trade in Berlin and Germany was to establish "a central operational set-up through which information on the narcotic traffic, both lawful and unlawful, [could] be channeled to a central control authority." Such an authority, similar to the former Reich Health Office (Reichsgesundheitsamt) under the Nazis, should be "national in its scope." As his predecessor Breidenbach had put it, because of "the very nature of the illicit narcotic traffic, its utter disregard of national frontiers, and its frequent efficient organization on an international scale, it is my studied opinion that no set-up short of a centralized national administration will prove effective in preventing the development of an extensive illicit narcotic trafficin Germany. Any attempt at independent control in separate zones, without a strict inspection and control of all mail, commerce and travel from zone to zone will be inadequate." Anslinger had described the urgency of adopting a centralized approach in similarly clear terms—"it is an international experience that lawless conditions in the domain of drug traffic will not stop before frontiers"—while Breidenbach outlined the stakes for the United States: "Should any extensive illicit traffic develop the United States would be one of its principal victims, regardless of the zone in which the clandestine trade might have its origin."

At this point Giuliani proposed adopting the Nazi regulations and Nazi drug laws wholesale and merely replacing German designations with their English equivalents. He put together a list:

1. "Reichsgesundheitsamt" shall mean "the Central Narcotics Office for each Zone of Occupation."

2. "Landesopiumstelle" shall mean "Opium Office of the Land or Province."

...

5. "Reichsrat" shall mean "Allied Control Authority."

6. "Reichstag" shall mean the "Allied Control Authority."

Anslinger liked this approach, especially since it was to be implemented under the leadership of the United States. His plan was for Giuliani's work to have an impact that wasn't limited to Germany alone. The goal of the US's top drug enforcer was to implement a global "policy shift toward a strong policy of prohibition" by means of the newly founded United Nations. What he had in mind was nothing less than to create a regulatory framework for combating the drug

trade that would be applied to the entire postwar world. Continuing the racist methods of the Nazis, who had perfected the notion of "combating narcotics" as a means of oppressing minorities, was fully consistent with his worldview. Because of the importance of its influential pharmaceutical industry before the war and its geopolitical position as a hub in the middle of Europe, Germany for Anslinger took on a key role and was meant to function as an example. If strict national controls could be successfully reintroduced between the Rhine and Oder rivers, a uniform international regulatory system would become more of a possibility. At his first appearance before the UN in December 1946 as the

American delegate to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Anslinger, building on Giuliani's experiences in Berlin, presented a globally scalable, Washington-dominated approach to drug prohibition. His plan was to reshape the UN drug commission into an enforcement body that would implement repressive measures as well as a uniform anti-drug protocol binding for all countries.* What he absolutely did not want was for the commission to develop merely into a pluralistic discussion forum that would permit varying views on the potent substances. His aim wasn't easy to achieve, since not every country was on board with the idea of international prohibition—not by a long shot, and especially not those that produced a lucrative opium crop, such as Iran, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan.* Countries such as these soon became a thorn in Washington's side.

In Berlin, meanwhile, which according to Anslinger's plan was supposed to lead the way, the situation also proved to be a challenge, owing to the city's division into four sectors. Even if the Allies insisted that they wanted to develop a national framework for Germany, each had their own interests to pursue, especially where drug policy was concerned. The British were concerned first and foremost with keeping the war-ravaged German pharmaceutical industry small, while the French in general took a lax approach. "My meeting with the Frenchman was very unsatisfactory because he knew nothing of the proposal and less of the Opium Law," Giuliani complained after a discussion with his counterpart from Paris. "I talked and talked and got no sign of intelligence from him. He was exceedingly cordial...but it was discouraging talking in the face of ignorance."

The Russians meanwhile threw a wrench in Giuliani's plans. They downright refused to go along with the plan to adopt the Nazi approach. At meetings of the Narcotic Control Working Party, held every few weeks in Room 329 of the Allied Control Council building in Berlin's Kleistpark, every attempt by the American to get all parties to agree upon prohibition for all zones was quashed by Giuliani's counterpart with the red star on his uniform cap.