New phenomenon for Amsterdam

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Amsterdam is flooded with young people from all parts of the world. Attracted by flower power, they are against everything bourgeois and well-behaved. They smoke hash, weed and opium, and use LSD and speed. The young people sleep on Dam Square and in the Vondel Park. On peak nights in 1971, the Vondelpark had around two thousand sleepers. Every summer there are more and the nuisance increases further. Thousands of young people continue to hang out in Amsterdam: they don't want to or can't go back. Many of them become addicted to heroin, which made its appearance in the Netherlands in 1972.

Amsterdam is thus unexpectedly confronted with a new phenomenon: drug use and addiction of large groups of young people. There is no plan yet, no approach yet, no knowledge yet. At the then Gemeentelijke Geneeskundige Dienst, a team of people is put together who have to take care of this on the ground. Theo Sluijs is part of this team as a social psychiatric outreach worker. He looks back:

"It was clear to many, including the congregation, that a lot was going wrong. Many hippies were not living particularly regularly and were more or less neglecting themselves. They got sick, got flu, pneumonia and infections. By using often hallucinogenic drugs, many got into trouble not only physically but also mentally. Because of their anti-authoritarian attitude, they did not use regular health care. The effect was that people walked around sick. That is not good for the person himself, but also not good for society. No one had a good approach to these problems yet, and each tried it in his own way. My colleagues and I were relieved of regular desk activities and instructed, "There's the city, go see what you can do. On my bicycle with a bag of medicine and bandages, I went to where people were staying: in a park, under a bridge, on Dam Square, in Vondel Park. We started with health care, but it could also involve arranging shelter, income or garbage removal."