Changing drug use forces cities to come up with new solutions
Switzerland is still far from the nightmare that made the open drug scenes in Zurich famous throughout Europe in the 1990s
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Swiss cities
are adapting their drug policies in the face of new forms of drug use. Thirty years after the open drug scene in Zurich, experts say it is time to act. New ways of acting must also be developed because of new types of drugs, according to the organisation Addiction Switzerland. The arrival of ready-to-consume “crack rocks” in Geneva two years ago broke the relative stability of the drug landscape and consumption patterns in that canton, Addiction Switzerland deputy director Frank Zobel said. In addition, drug use in public spaces is on the rise again throughout Switzerland – from Geneva to Basel, Lausanne, Chur and Zurich. Mini-drug scenes are the result. This is related to the very high availability of cocaine. (See also: Geneva struggles with crack-cocaine epidemic)
