The citizens of Smíchov living near the contact centers have joined the efforts of the City Hall of Prague 5 to relieve the city districts from the movement of an enormous number of drug addicts. Hundreds of signatures were collected under a petition entitled “For a Safe and Clean Prague 5” addressed to the capital. At the last meeting of the capital council, the petition sparked a passionate but also constructive discussion. On this basis, the deputies instructed councilor Milena Johnová to immediately start working on the decentralization of threshold facilities and the reduction of the low burden that Prague 5 has to bear for a long time.

The mayor of Prague 5, Mgr. Renata Zajickova (ODS). In her speech, she criticized the laxity of the responsible councilors and the neglect of the growing problem. She emphasized that the necessary strategies had been in place for years, but lacked the will to implement them. It again called on the capital to cooperate. According to her, Prague must address this serious problem and at the level of the entire metropolis.

After several hours of discussion, the deputies adopted a resolution ordering Councilor John to process the petition and the Capital City Council to develop a concept and timetable for the decentralization of the network of addictology services within Prague by mid-next year. To this end, the Council must also develop a methodology for locating contact centers, taking into account their impact on their surroundings and the quality of life of residents, such as capping the number of clients or a clearly defined minimum distance from school facilities.

“I consider the resolution of the council to be a great success and a major step forward after years. The Prague councilors acknowledged the serious shortcomings in the current system and nodded to the offer of co-operative districts. public space, quality of life and the feeling of security of the inhabitants I would like to thank the citizens of Pětka for their initiative and the Prague representatives that they specifically tasked the management of Prague with a clear deadline, “comments Renáta Zajíčková, Mayor of Prague 5, on the decision of the Prague City Council.

During her speech, the mayor further reminded that the solution cannot lie on the box of a single councilor, because it is a complex problem, including security, security, but also the cleanliness and cleaning of the public space around the contact centers. Although anti-drug issues, security and cleaning are fully under the responsibility of the capital city of Prague, it costs the city district hundreds of thousands of crowns a year extra. Even on this point, the City of Prague representatives gave it the right and in the second part of the resolution they ordered the City Council to increase funding to increase the activities of the Municipal Police, provide security and cleaning in the exposed localities of the affected city districts.

“I believe that, based on the resolution of the City Council, they have finally broken down and the situation, especially of residents, seniors or families with children who have a long-term reduced quality of housing, will soon and mainly improve here,” adds Renáta Zajíčková.

At the same time, representatives of the City of Prague called on all City Districts to take joint action and accept co-responsibility for the creation and operation of low-threshold services for people using addictive substances within the metropolis. The Ministry of Health is also calling for the preparation of appropriate legislation to ensure the conditions of treatment for drug addicts to match the current knowledge and dictology and the Government of the Czech Republic to increase the budget for future networks of addictology services in the capital city of Prague.