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| Hans-Günter Meyer-Thompson | International

Schweiz. How expanded methadone access helped Switzerland defuse its drug crisis

Schweiz. How expanded methadone access helped Switzerland defuse its drug crisis

ZURICH — The lobby of this addiction clinic is unremarkable, really, except for the network of metal chutes and tubes that hug the walls as they snake downward from a pharmacy on the upper floors. Every few minutes, a new prescription comes clattering down, delivering a bottle full of powerful and effective pills used to treat opioid addiction to a waiting patient at the front desk. Sometimes, it’s methadone. Other patients prefer slow-release morphine. In rare cases, for those at high risk of overdose or infectious disease, this clinic even prescribes pharmaceutical-grade heroin.

This scene is typical of a Monday afternoon in Switzerland. (STAT, USA, 26.03.2024)

https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/26/opioid-addiction-methadone-treatment-switzerland-europe/