Crack has swept through city centers, and users now come from all walks oflife. Katia, Brice, and Thomas have agreed to bare their souls on camera, and tell how they’re trying to kick the habit. An uphill battle against this highly addictive substance for which, unlike other drugs, there’s no real substitution treatment available. With its 4 pillars drug strategy, Switzerland has come a long way since the open drug scenes of the 1990s at Letten and Platzspitz. We followed mobile intervention teams and healthcare workers who stand by users day in and day out, working to establish contact, support, and sometimes treatment too on a case by case basis. Without judgment, this report shows us women and men who are trying to climb out of the abyss.

Filming Locations
Geneva, Switzerland (crack consumption, street outreach, healthcare programs).
Zurich, Switzerland (open drug scenes of the 1990s at Letten and Platzspitz).

Key Contributors
Katia, Brice, Alicia, Christian: crack users.
Thomas: former crack user.
Tiphaine Robert: physician and founder of the RUE program (Réponses Urgentes et Engagées / Urgent and Committed Responses) at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG).
Daniele Zullino: psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist at HUG.
José Bonvin: peer support worker with the RUE program, former heroin user.

Key Themes 
The invisible consumption of crack at home vs. the extreme precariousness of people living on the street.
The RUE street-outreach program designed to establish a connection with vulnerable, precarious users.
The pilot project for prescribed cocaine, inspired by Switzerland’s heroin-assisted treatment established in the 1990s.
Switzerland’s four-pillar drug policy regarding hard drugs: prevention, therapy, harm reduction, and law enforcement.

Key Figures
Tiphaine Robert: 318 people met through street outreach were subsequently able to be received at Caap (Ambulatory Addiction Center).
José Bonvin: In the 1990s, heroin consumption caused 400 deaths per year in Zurich.

Quotes
Sarah, Thomas's partner: "You actually find yourself facing massive destruction—the disappearance of the person you know."
Tiphaine Robert: "The real problem with the patients we see isn't the drug use; it's the precariousness."
José Bonvin: "I’m alive just because of that, because people helped me."