The number of drug users and dealers on Zurich’s streets has risen during the summer months, prompting authorities to introduce new measures to combat the trend from spreading to other parts of the Swiss city.
“The problem of visible drug use in public spaces has increased in several locations over the past summer weeks,” Zurich authorities announced on July 21st, adding that the municipality is “taking this development seriously and intensifying police and social work measures on site, while working on structural solutions.”
The areas particularly affected are around Bäckeranlage, the barracks area, the main train station on Platform 3, as well as the Schanzengraben – areas to which police now refer to as “hotspots.”
“Visible drug use, drug dealing, and related conflicts make it difficult to use and spend time in these public spaces,” the city said.
What are local authorities doing to combat this phenomenon?
Local authorities have deployed more police and social workers to maintain “a strong and visible presence in these areas.”
Concrete measures include increased car and foot patrols, more systematic identity checks and dispersal orders.
“Drug use and dealing in public spaces will not be tolerated,” city officials said. “Those using drugs will be consistently checked and, depending on the situation, directed to designated consumption sites.”
These are indoor premises set up especially to take addicts off the streets and provide a safe environment to use their drugs.
Such sites are available in multiple Swiss cities besides Zurich including Bern, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, among others.
Zurich is not a novice when it comes to drug use in public spaces, however. In fact, it made history of sorts in this respect.
In the 1980s, the city was famous (or ‘infamous’ may be more accurate) around the world for its active open-air drug scene located in the Platzspitz park, also known as the ‘Needle Park’ for addicts from all over Europe.
For years, it was home to thousands of addicts, until it was ‘cleaned-up’ and closed to drug dealers and users in 1992.
Other Swiss cities, by the way, also have their own (mostly smaller) drug scenes.
Why don’t Zurich authorities just chase the addicts off the street?
Because the city – and Switzerland in general – has a policy in place that focuses less on criminalising users and more on harm-reduction and medical and social-support strategies.
Its heroin distribution programme (HAT) is a good example of that.
It allows state-run clinics to distribute heroin to selected, severely dependent addicts.
Started in the 1990s, this model has drastically reduced crime, HIV rates, and overdose deaths.
READ MORE: What is Switzerland’s heroin distribution programme?
