Everyday I have to go through Oerlikon Platz, and every day I see more and more people selling drugs.

You do not have to be a detective to see what they are doing, because it is starting to be easy to find people injecting on public spaces, today I even saw a guy injecting in the corridors inside the Bahnhoff.

Now that it is summer, you can just looks at their legs to see that they have the legs full or injection marks.
I am really starting to be afraid of the situation. That much that some days I am already taking a different route.

During all this time, I have never seen a single police around. Is there any police in this neighbourhood?

Always think that as long as they are taking their stuff, they won´t be bothered by/with me? Was in Oerlikon Bahnhof twice today and did not notice anything (but then I did not look for anything)

When I lived in Kleinbasel I had a mega number of dealers opposite my apartment building every night, due to the red light zone being nearby. There would be anything from 3 to 16 dealers, yet there was a main police station a stone's throw away. They'd be there from 10pm to 6am and we couldn't sleep for them arguing and fighting (one night they had most of the street up and my neighbour filmed them and went to the press as she was so fed up).

I can honestly say the drug problems I see here are not as bad as my home town in Scotland - at 4.30pm every day the main streets turn into an episode of The Walking Dead when the addicts all come out looking for a fix (and they will shoplift or mug someone to pay for it).

Had a couple of cop friends back in the late '80s (ZH undercover Kripo)

People doing drugs was the least of their concerns, or so they told me.

Just saying.

Tom

No such thing as Oerlikonplatz. Is the rest invented too?

Do you mean Max Bill Platz?

So what were their concerns?

The rioting youth.

All the heavy-drug users were nicely tucked away = under control at Platzspitz.

Yes: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4102...7i13312!8i6656
Today it was market day there.

I live close by and I never noticed any open air selling... I studied in a city in Italy which was Europe-wide famous for the drug scene, Oerlikon has nothing even comparable to that.

On the other side, it's true that the area around the station has MANY people drinking beer and chatting 24/7, and they don't look like bankers discussing bonds, if you allow me to be use a little prejudice here. But I was never bothered and as long as there are no incidents I suppose there is some sort of equilibrium in place...

I once had to use the public restroom at the Oerlikon train station , and it's still the only restroom I have ever come across where there is a special bin marked for used needles.

A lot of public loos in Britain have those weird ultra violet lights in the cubicles so addicts can't find a vein to use. Edinburgh city centre used to be terrible (think Trainspotting), there were loos like this at Hunter Square and some of the shops had them. Hunter Square was a huge hangout for drinkers and addicts, thankfully the authorities took action and eventually cleared it.

Marktplatz then.

Parking tickets .

Ha be glad then you didn't live near Platzspitz in the 80s/90s eh.

I don't really understand the problem. They are not doing you any harm and you don't need to buy anything, so I guess just keep on walking?

Little tip about Switzerland: no one really gives a damn. The culture here is a mix of law-abiding and anarchic, so better get used to it. As for drugs: mostly tolerated as pushing it underground isn't going to make it any better. That's a fairly general rule.

Oerlikon itself has a long history with people who got mental health issues, they
can be find at the market place or train station.

Due to the corona virus their income stream has drained, the contact centers in oerlikon are remain closed, there are not many people around , where they can hide .

those are fairly common.

No, it is not invented, although I wish it were. It was not like that before, but it has been changing in the last few months.

They are not drunk people, and I have no prejudice as someone said.
I know what I have seen, and when you see people injecting, there are no prejudice. It happened twice already, once at night, a girl in the middle of MarktPlatz. And once today a man in front of Coop Pronto inside Bahnhoff.

I invite you to check what people do, and the marks they have in their legs. Specially around the entrance of the Coop where the Tram 11 stops, and in the area around the Chess games in the floor of the Markplatz.

I don't need to come and check. Addicts are part of every society and as blackbird said, the places they normally can meet up have been closed down. Those who cared heard, that it was very difficult for the social workers who work with addicts and do street-work to do their job the past months.

Leave them alone as they leave you alone.

I am not worried just because they are there doing their things.

I am worried because I know what comes in the same package. I know what people do when they want to consume and they don't have money. And I know what happens when a kid touches a needle that somebody left on the floor after injecting.

I really hope that the police take some action and the situation reverts soon, at least before something bad happens.

Yes. There are alot of the Balkan Mafia living and operating in those areas

Drugs are scary. There's something wonderful about them, which is one of the reasons why any individual uses them from the second time onwards, yet they can cause such pain.

Here's a centre where you might address your concerns. The Zurich group called ARUD, which stands for Arbeitsgemeinschaft für risikoarmen Umgang mit Drogen (Working-Group for Low-Risk Use of Drugs). You can read about their history, here:
https://arud.ch/en/uber-uns/unternehmen/geschichte

what they're about here:
https://arud.ch/en/uber-uns/unternehmen/engagement

and can contact a social worker here:
https://arud.ch/en/fachbereiche/fach...e/sozialarbeit

They may be able to reassure you that they know about the pockets of people you see. Or they may not yet have realised that there are people gathering there, too (after all, "the scene" fluctuates and moves around) and be glad of your input.