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A home for elderly drug addicts

What is life like for heroin addicts when they enter old age? One Swiss nursing home provides special care for them. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Images of heroin junkies in Zurich when the city had an open drugs scene in the early 1990s went around the world. At the time, up to 3,000 addicts shot up on Platzspitz square every day, in abysmal hygenic conditions.  In 1992 the Zurich authorities finally closed it down. Shortly afterwards Bern followed suit and put an end to the capital city’s scene. It was a sign that the authorities no longer tolerated the open drugs culture.

Thanks to the introduction of medically controlled heroin distribution many junkies from that period have survived and are now entering old age. The nursing home Solina in Spiez is one of few places in Switzerland offering care to seniors with addiction.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR