IF THEY TRY –
July 3, 2025 – Dating back to the 14th century, the district was a hub for the port city’s sailors. The red lanterns sex workers used to signify their availability became a distinctive feature, giving the area another name: The Red Light District. Dutch police work hand-in-hand with the health department. It’s an approach started during the country’s heroin crisis that began in the 1970s. Around the same time, in 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” in the United States.
In the decades since, the U.S. has treated drug use largely as a criminal justice issue — despite the staggering death toll of the opioid crisis. The Netherlands chose a public health model that helped put an end to their crisis.
“We don’t have an office,” Bakayan says. “The street is my office. I approach people and offer them help and try to seduce them to work with me to find a solution for the situation.”
Walking the canal-lined streets, Blakenzee and Bakayan spot a group of people huddled in an alley between the skinny gabled buildings. As they approach, the group scurries away.
“You can see here,” Bakayan says pointing to cigarette butts and torn plastic powdered with white residue left behind on the brick. “These are the silent witnesses.”
During the patrol, the pair stops at safe consumption rooms and shelters. Blankenzee waits outside while Bakayan goes in to check in on people.
Inside a “ziekenboeg,” a shelter for chronically ill people who use drugs, Bakayan sits with Alvin Medema in his small room. The two tease each other in an interaction laced with the minor frustration that exists when one person is trying to help another who is struggling, but stubborn.
