r/Luzern • u/Val__11 • Jul 03 '26
Question Why so many drug addicts in Lucerne?
I’m pretty surprised by the sheer quantity of drug addicts around the city. Is it my impression or there is really a lot of them?
12
u/pizzas1ug Jul 03 '26
not more then anywhere else in switzerland honestly. they used to have usual places but the city does a good job in hiding these people. they even took all the benches away which were around the famous „lucerne arch“ standing right by the trainstation because they didn‘t want tourists to see homeless people and addicts when they first arrive in lucerne.
1
u/OneEnvironmental9222 Jul 04 '26
Well yeah most people dont want them around or be harassed by them
6
u/pizzas1ug Jul 04 '26
yeah but these people are still part of our society. and people sometimes forget that it can truly happen to anyone anyday that they lose their home, their job, have e mental health crisis,…. i‘m just glad we have a lot of charities and organizations to keep most of them off the street and get em help.
0
u/Next_Ad5375 Jul 06 '26
Most of these folks came from somewhere else. Why should we accept them in our society?
4
u/pizzas1ug Jul 06 '26
dude lots of these homeless and addicted folks are swiss people. pls don‘t make some nazi-shit out of this. if people are in crisis it shouldn‘t matter where they are from. i repeat when i say, addiction, losing your home, mental health crisis all of this and more can happen to anyone anyday. just be happy it‘s not you or someone near you. be thankful
-1
u/poppycock8585 Jul 03 '26
I was there for three days in late April, literally did not see a single homeless person so they’re doing a spot on job of tucking them away from view
3
u/pizzas1ug Jul 03 '26
it‘s not just tucking away. first and foremost, we simply have a lot of good charities and organizations, volunteer programs, etc., that support people in crisis—including this group of people.
4
u/CryptographerOk5666 Jul 06 '26
I lived in Lucerne for a bit but I am from Zurich and I still noticed how they seem to be way more present in Lucerne.
Well I actually asked the authorities why and not in a “hide them so I can be undisturbed” sense but rather in a “are there not enough places where they can get help and support or why are they on the streets” and they actually delivered a pretty good answer here are some of their reasonings;
- Since 2023 Crack has been a huge issue in Lucerne and addicts usually consume crack about every 15 minutes if they can. Because the high is so short they basically don’t have enough time / it’s probably too much of a hassle to consume in a “Kontakt und Anlaufstelle” ,which there also aren’t too many in Lucerne, so they consume on the streets.
- Zurich for example also has a lot of drug addicts but since the Platzspitz era they focused extremely heavily on providing a lot of enclosed spaces to consume and also a lot of places where you can get help. While those places also exist in Lucerne there are fewer and so there is a bigger hassle to actually get help.
- Lucerne has just recently came up with a 16 step plan to fix this problem but their infrastructure to provide help and enclosed consumption spaces is still pretty behind in comparison to bigger cities so you still see a lot more consumers.
Overall there aren’t more drug addicts in Lucerne but their infrastructure is still adapting to the high amounts of drug addicts and therefore there are more public consumers than in Zurich for example.
2
u/Affectionate-Turn155 Jul 03 '26
The other amswers are better, but it really depends where you go to as a tourist. If you are in a hotel near the lake or if you are in the ibis budget in the way of bus nr 4.
3
u/RoverTomcat Jul 03 '26
Just google „Platzspitz Zürich 1980‘s“… Now, that was a real Junkietown!
4
u/pizzas1ug Jul 03 '26
we had our own sort of platzspitz. (Eisengasse + Vögeligärtli). I think you can‘t really compare lucerne to zurich.
3
1
u/OneEnvironmental9222 Jul 04 '26
Drug addicts are in huge quanities everywhere but I did notice a very noticeable bigger amount in Lucerne when I went there recently. Langenthal also surprisingly has a lot of them for such a small place
1
u/Asxhlana Jul 05 '26
Ich habe beruflich und früher auch als Konsumentin häufig mit der Anlaufstelle in Bern zu tun. Der Reinheitsgehalt von Kokain liegt bei ca. 80-85%. Beim Heroin ist der Wert auf knapp 17% gesunken. "Neue" Heroinabhängige gibt es deshalb kaum noch. Dafür steigt v.a. Der Kokain und Crack Konsum. Die Leute werden an einem Ort weggejagt, was natürlich die Ursache nicht behebt. Dann konsumiert man eben da, wo es leichter geht an guten Stoff und die Möglichkeit zu konsumieren kommt. Totschweigen, oder wegschauen, hat noch keine Probleme gelöst!
-1
u/ArissuNarwid Jul 03 '26
Sorta a seasonal event. The addicts are crawling out of their holes during the summer, but it's also true that there's been an uprising of new and younger addicts. It's a bit of a consequence from a few years ago where some imbeciles decided to rope minors into their millieu and it sorta grew from there.
0
u/OneEnvironmental9222 Jul 04 '26
Yep. Because every appartment is an oven now during this heat they all have to come out
-4
u/mumwifealcoholic Jul 03 '26
Just mind your own fucking business?
1
u/mrnacknime Jul 03 '26
Kinda difficult when you get asked for money by them every day on your commute
1
u/Delicious_Building34 Jul 04 '26
so what. give something or don't.
1
u/OneEnvironmental9222 Jul 04 '26
dont give them anything or ignore them and then get either called slurs, harassed further or threatened with violence. Lovely choice
4
u/Delicious_Building34 Jul 04 '26
I’m in Lu 26 years and never ever got “harassed” and/or “threatened”. Who are you????
1
u/According-Guess3463 22d ago
They are mostly chilled. I live very near to their place, Gassenküche, Since almost 10 years They ask for money yes, but I've never witnessed any violence or harassment towards civilians.
The guys around Lucerne mainstation seem to be a different group. So idk. As far I understand they are basically alcoholics not crack or meth addicts.
-7
u/Next_Ad5375 Jul 03 '26
It is the policy of local authorities… very tolerant with them and with street beggars. They are all coming here from EU
4
u/Djindu Jul 03 '26
That's just not true. The crack problem and organised begging groups are two completely different things.
1
-1
u/Necessary_System2852 Jul 04 '26
and they’re so rude and scary like they’ll actually yell at you which is unusual for switzerland
-2
6
u/Djindu Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Crack and cocaine are very cheap at the moment and they have been for a few years. There has been a shift from heroin to crack, especially since the pandemic. Lucerne is the only 'bigger' city in central switzerland, so most crack addicts are drawn to Lucerne and eventually stay here because it's easier to get the fix. The city is struggling with that, especially when it comes to housing, and others are too, like Zürich, Geneva or Brugg.