In Nice, the sensitive subject of a support center for drug users

• The relocation of a reception and support center for the reduction of risks for drug use is the subject of debate in Nice.

• He must move from one establishment to the east of Nice to another, more in the city center.

• The residents and the town hall are opposed to it, but the project has been validated and financed by the regional health agency and will see the light of day “soon”.

" They were only missing that !

exclaims a resident of boulevard Tzarewitch.

Seated on the terrace of a bakery, she learned from Raymond, representative of the neighborhood committee, that a meeting had been held to "reassure the locals about the installation of a reception and support center for risk reduction for drug users (Caarud), at number 6” of this rue de Nice.

This Caarud, managed by the Fondation de Nice, will go from 85 boulevard Virgile Barel, in the east of the city, to this location, near boulevard Gambetta, a stone's throw from the Russian cathedral.

Raymond continues: “People are reluctant, they don't want to see queues of people in their street.

Plus, it's right in front of a garden.

It is sure that it will be invested when drug addicts are waiting for care or when it is not open.

The Niçois nods from left to right, blowing: “They deserve to be detected, followed and accompanied, but in a specific, more discreet setting.

Not downtown.

»

The city of Nice against the move

Same reaction from the side of the town hall.

On September 14, Christian Estrosi declared "his opposition" after being questioned by "local residents who are legitimately worried about this move to the city center, located near a kindergarten, a college, a faculty of law ".

“Often marginalized, the public received can harm the neighborhood, public safety, neighborhood life”, he communicated, advocating “hospital care”.

Having no power over this care, which is a competence of the State, the elected representative then asked the regional health agency (ARS) to "give up this project to move from Caarud".

A month and a half later, in the chosen location, the name on the mailboxes has been put up, along with what appears to be a brand new electric curtain for the front door.

The move being definitive, the first deputy mayor, Anthony Borré, brought together, at the beginning of October, all the actors concerned to “coordinate the rapid implementation of proposals” and “consider harmonized responses”.

“I offered to work in conjunction with the CPAM and the prescribers in order to improve the care pathways for drug addict patients,” he says.

We are also going to improve the frequency of syringe collections in conjunction with Caarud professionals in order to minimize the impact on the quality of life of local residents.

He also ensures that “monitoring points” are made “regularly” to “propose the most suitable solutions for these fragile audiences”.

An opening “in autumn”

This project will therefore "open shortly", learned

from a source familiar with the matter, the Nice Foundation not "wishing to communicate on this subject".

But it is still possible to know that the project has been "authorized and its development work financed by the ARS in 2022" via the organization's "quarterly information journal", which indicates an opening "in fall ".

The article, written by the director general, explains that this Caarud will in fact be an "addictology platform" to "bring together the actions of this Caarud and a Center for care, support and prevention in addictology (CSAPA) », also managed by the Fondation de Nice.

This platform will make it possible to "facilitate the reception, support and care of people with addictive behavior by pooling human and local resources and equipment".

And this "geographical location" is, for the association, an "asset for the intensification of outreach actions with daily marauding by professionals", but also "to meet the public outside, create and maintain the link , distribute sterile equipment, prevent and act in the direction of possible difficulties related to the use of products in the public space”.

In this letter addressed to readers, she undertakes to "recover soiled equipment and intervene if necessary at the request of the neighborhood".

In 2012, the city and the inhabitants of Nice had been responsible for the closure in the city center of this Caarud, also managed at the time by the Fondation de Nice under the association Entractes.

At the level of the department, only two centers of this type exist, all of them are in Nice.

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