Esch-sur-Alzette, home to fewer than 40,000 people in Luxembourg’s south, reached a significant milestone in 2019 as the second city in the country to establish a drug consumption room. Contact Esch was based upon educational, medical, and social pillars, garnering strong support and success. The DCR’s effectiveness stemmed from robust political backing for harm reduction, effective collaboration among policymakers, NGOs, and local leaders, and the Ministry of Health’s objective to decentralise treatment and harm reduction services across Luxembourg. The Jugend-an-Drogenhëllef Foundation (JDF), the organisation behind Contact Esch, prioritised community involvement, fostering positive relations between locals and the initiative. Esch-sur-Alzette’s success in implementing a DCR, marked by minimal opposition and notable community support, can help to inspire other small-scale cities to implement DCRs, within and beyond Luxembourg.

See also:

• City report – Amsterdam. Shaping the future of drug regulation from the ‘bottom-up’. 
• City report – London. The disproportionate harms of drug prohibition on oppressed peoples. 
• City report – Bălţi. Violating confidentiality: the disclosure of medical data of people who use drugs. 
• City report – Warsaw. A critical review of the harm reduction landscape in the district of Praga.