Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

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Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History from the BBC World Service with me

Zach Brophy. Today I'm bringing you the story of how Switzerland adopted a

radical drugs policy that

includes providing safe injection rooms for addicts and even prescribing pure heroin.

In 2008 the Swiss people voted to enshrine the changes in law after decades of campaigning by those

on the front line of one of Europe's worst drug epidemics.

I tried nearly every drugs. My friend fell into deep troubles with drugs. Luckily I escaped from really severe problems so then I started to study medicine and my

patients sometimes were all friends.

This is Andre Seidenburg, a Swiss doctor who's been working with drug users since the 1970s.

Back then, Switzerland was in the midst of a major heroin crisis.

The government responded with police crackdowns and abstinence-only treatments, but it wasn't

working.

The problem spiralled so far out of control that in the late 80s some local governments allowed drug consumption in public spaces.

They became known as needle parks and the Plattsbits Park in Zurich was one of the most notorious.

First it was a few hundreds then it was a few thousands every day and shooting drugs, drugs, walking around, trafficking of all kind, not only drugs.

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