In the late 70s, users of heroin and cocaine began to assemble around a riverside location in the center of Zurich. By 1980, concentrations of 100-400 drug users were not uncommon. Police attempted to disperse these groups, but they would simply dissolve and reconstitute somewhere else. The police then decided to designate the Platzspitz, a public recreational park behind Zurich's main train station, as a tolerated but supervised zone for drug users. Within a few months, hundreds of individuals gathered each day in the so-called "needle park;" by 1991, there was a daily average of 1700-2500.

In February 1992, the area was closed.