Zurich businesses demand action on open drug scene

Businesses and residents near Gessnerallee in Zurich are collecting signatures to demand that the open drug scene outside their premises be cleared, SRF reported. They say drug dealing and consumption have increased and fear the area could become a “second Platzspitz”.

Melanie Stierli, who runs a cosmetics salon near Gessnerallee, said groups regularly deal and consume drugs directly outside her business. On one occasion, they even placed a sofa in front of the salon, allowing customers to see them, she said.

Stierli also reported increasingly aggressive behaviour, which she said was putting a strain on her employees. Another long-standing business owner in the area, who did not want to be named, said the number of dealers and drug users had risen year by year.

Gessnerallee is one of four locations identified by the city as hotspots in Zurich’s open drug scene. Police patrols have recently been increased, but the business owner said officers and dealers were engaged in a “cat-and-mouse game”.

The businesses and local residents want politicians to address the situation. They are calling for the scene around Gessnerallee to be cleared.

Why the scene has formed near the main station

The addiction medicine centre Arud, which also provides drug treatment, is located on Gessnerallee. It has treated people with addictions since the open drug scene near Letten railway station was closed.

Some patients receive heroin substitutes such as methadone from Arud and then sell them on the street, said Thilo Beck, the centre’s co-chief of psychiatry. He described this as a known phenomenon since the treatment began. According to Beck, however, only about one percent of Arud’s roughly 5,000 patients trade methadone.

Beck and his team have also noticed increased drug dealing and consumption in public, including outside Arud’s offices. Because of the scene’s growing aggression, the centre employs its own security service to maintain order around the facility.

Beck attributed the renewed visibility of the open drug scene mainly to a new wave of cocaine that has flooded the illegal market. He said cocaine was being sold in small pellets for five Swiss francs and was widely available and easy to consume.

He called for more and new low-threshold services for people with addictions. Increased police presence was important, he said, but would not solve Zurich’s open drug scene.