Party drugs, sedatives and painkillers are consumed far more frequently in Switzerland than previously assumed. New approaches are therefore needed in drug policy.
The wider drug consumption calls for a new drug policy.
Drug consumption has become normal for young Swiss people. They use tiny doses of LSD for study, they use cocaine and ecstasy at parties, they drink cough syrups containing codeine, they take benzodiazepines for sleep and cannabis for stress relief.
Drugs have become so widespread in our society that even experts are amazed. This is illustrated by a recently published study by the Jacobs Center at the University of Zurich, for which 1200 Zurich residents at the age of 20 were surveyed. The study found that more than half of the participants consumed cannabis in the year prior to the survey, and more than ten percent of the party drugs cocaine and ecstasy. Sedatives and pain relievers are also often taken.
So if you want to consume, you do so as a matter of course – even if many of the substances are actually forbidden. And above all, today’s adolescents and young adults experiment with a wide variety of intoxicants.
In short: Consumers are obviously unimpressed by bans and sales restrictions. As well as: The fabrics are easily available – in your circle of friends, on Instagram or Telegram channels. A phone call or a few clicks are all it takes and the substances land in the mailbox shortly afterwards.
Despite the widespread desire for intoxication: Fortunately, a new drug epidemic like in the times of Platzspitz and Letten is not foreseeable in Switzerland. So far, however, there has been no broad debate about how society should deal with this consumption pattern. Ultimately, the goal of government efforts must be to minimize the health, social and economic damage as much as possible.
One thing is clear: drug policy needs to be realigned. Because the previous ban regime has neither helped to curb consumption, nor has it restricted trade. On the contrary: the quantities are increasing from year to year, the purity of the substances has risen steadily, but the price has fallen. Organized crime, on the other hand, has benefited from the high demand, and today it actually controls the entire drug trade in Switzerland.
It therefore needs a change of direction in dealing with consumption and trade. A decriminalization of consumption among adults and adolescents is long overdue. But that is only the first step: a drug policy whose primary goal is harm reduction should also aim at restricting the black market. The best way to do this is to destroy the criminal gangs’ business model.
This requires a regulated drug market and clear framework conditions. The providers would have to be certified by the state, sales to under 18-year-olds would have to be banned, advertising would have to remain banned, and greater efforts must be made in prevention.
You can’t be naive about it. Repressive police instruments are still needed to fight the black market. Organized crime is not going to let one of its most lucrative branches of business simply be unbuttoned.
It makes sense to proceed gradually. Legalization of hard drugs should not be made until enough experience has been gained with softer drugs. In the case of cannabis, for example, the debate about legalization is furthest advanced in Switzerland. Experience with a regulated market can be made here with a manageable risk. Consumption is already so widespread among adolescents and young adults in Switzerland that legalization will hardly have a major impact. There are also role models in Canada and the USA. We can also learn from the experiences there in this country.
One thing is clear: a regulated market would have to be linked to a clear monitoring of success. But if you do nothing, you simply leave the field to organized crime. That cannot be in the sense of a well-considered drug policy.