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Witness History: How Switzerland defeated its heroin epidemic

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zurich drugs pic RECROPPED.jpg

04/06/2021 GMT

How Switzerland defeated its heroin epidemic

BBC World Service - Witness History, How Switzerland defeated its heroin epidemic

In the 1990s, the Swiss tried radical new policy ideas, including heroin on prescription

In the 1990s, the Swiss tried radical new policy ideas, including providing safe-injection rooms and heroin on prescription

In the 1990s, Switzerland decided to tackle one of Europe's worst drugs epidemics by trying radical new policy ideas including providing safe-injection rooms for addicts and even prescribing pure heroin. The new strategy dramatically cut overdoses, HIV infections and the number of new users, and in 2008 the Swiss voted in a referendum to enshrine the changes permanently in law. Zak Brophy talks to Andre Seidenberg, a Swiss doctor who worked with addicts for decades, and to former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss, who campaigned for the change in policy.

PHOTO: Drug addicts in a disused railway station in Zurich in the 1990s (Getty Images)

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