It recalled that the Swiss cities that took part in the recent European wastewater studyExternal link are among those with the highest cocaine rates: for overall average consumption, five Swiss cities featured in the top nine – Zurich, St Gallen, Geneva, Basel and Bern.
Lausanne has also been in the spotlight in recent weeks over drug dealing on the city’s streets by up to 200 West Africans. On TuesdayExternal link, the local authorities and police announced that more officers would combat the problem in certain districts, following complaints from local residents and a campaign led by Swiss film director Fernand Melgar.
The Addiction Switzerland statement also coincided with the release of a new European Union report, warning that the purity of street cocaine in Europe is its highest level in a decade and the number of people seeking treatment for use of the drug is on the rise.
Experts say the rise in cocaine purity is due to various factors including increased production in Latin America and the crackdown on cutting agents by law enforcement in many European countries.
The increase in purity has been accompanied by a marked rise in the number of first-time admissions to specialised treatment centres for cocaine problems. In 2016, 30,300 people entered treatment for the first time for problems with the drug, more than a fifth more than in 2014.
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Swiss police bust huge cocaine drug ring
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The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug addiction ranked the Belgium port of Antwerp the cocaine capital of Europe in a study published in Lisbon on TuesdayExternal link, with an average concentration of cocaine in wastewater of 915 mg per 1,000 people per day. It was followed by London (894 mg) and Zurich (722…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.