Oct 4: Drug Policy Collaboration Zurich/San Francisco

Zurich became infamous in the 90s for the humanitarian crisis caused by its open drug scene, Europe’s biggest at the time. A big historic policy shift towards a collaborative approach between police, health and other city departments helped end the open air drug scene and saved lives through harm-reduction measures and provided treatment. Today, San Francisco is facing a similar challenge where this past August month alone, 84 people have died of drug overdose.

We sat down with drug policy experts and practitioners from Zurich and San Francisco to share more about their experiences and learnings from decades of dedicated work in drug policy, with an open panel where the public engaged with questions.

From Zurich:

• Dr. Larissa J. Maier, Drug Policy Researcher

• Andrea Weiss, Social Affairs Zurich

• Dr. Mehdi Safavi, Health Department Zurich

• Beat Rhyner, Police Department Zurich

From San Francisco:

• Laura Thomas, SFAF Director of Harm Reduction Policy

• Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, MD MPH, UCSF Professor for Family Community Medicine

• Steve Adami, MPA Executive Director, The Way Out – recovery-focused homeless initiative of The Salvation Army

• Cedric Akbar, Executive Director at Positive Directions Equals Change

• Maurice Byrd, Director of Training and Business Operations, The Harm Reduction Therapy Center
  

Manny’s civic gathering space – Get Tickets Here!

3092 16th St, San Francisco, CA

Wednesday Oct 4, 5p-8pm