Crack, this drug that is wreaking havoc in the north of Paris
Audio 04:46
Graffiti in a camp at Porte de la Villette in Paris.
AFP - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT
Text by: Laurence Théault
6 mins
In the north of Paris, 150 to 200 drug users are currently gathered in a miserable camp, ultra-precarious people constantly moved from the hill of crack to Stalingrad then in the gardens of Éole and today, porte de La Villette.
Tuesday, February 1, all the actors of the "crack plan" met to find solutions to this problem which has persisted for years.
Measures have been announced such as the creation of 70 accommodation places and the project to invest in permanent medical structures.
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Crack is a highly addictive derivative of cocaine. To "base" the cocaine, that is to say transform it into crack, the white powder is mixed with bicarbonate or ammonia in "kitchens" run by the traffickers. After being heated, the mixture crystallizes and takes the form of small yellowish pieces similar to parmesan. The pebble is then inhaled using a pipe. A small “galette” can be negotiated from 10 euros. Rates that have given crack the nickname "poor man's drug".
"
When I take a puff of crack, the stuff is unique, it goes up in my head, it's like a flash, I feel powerful and at the same time relaxed, it's so strong that when the effect stops I immediately want to eat again
,” says Magid, leaning against a wall, leg bent.
Since there is little cocaine in a rock of crack, "the descent" is very fast, hence the uncontrollable urge to use again very quickly.
Unlike opiates like heroin, there is no substitute for crack.
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poor among the poor
This population of crack consumers does not interest many people.
Their common point is the great precariousness.
They are between 150 and 200. They are marginalized, including many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.
They accumulate psychological and psychiatric problems, often without work or housing, a concentration of human misery.
Some drug addicts sleep next to rats.
There is a lot of violence between these drug addicts who mix all the drugs, crack, alcohol, drugs.
Fewer women are particularly vulnerable, there are rapes and sexual services in exchange for the product.
"
Crack is a serious hell, you don't sleep anymore, you don't eat anymore, you're never at peace and when you have a little money, the people who are with you suck your blood like mosquitoes
,” admits Kelly, in her forties.
Alongside users, there are dealers and "modous" (
Editor
's note Wolof word which designates a small trader and which, in Senegal would apply to street vendors) and more broadly to those who engage in illegal trafficking .
Most modous are also consumers.
The anger of the residents
The crackers as they are called understand this anger of the inhabitants but they say “
we go where the product is
”.
Local residents are exasperated because drug addicts are sometimes very aggressive, they are afraid for their children.
Marie-José at the head of a collective "Non au crack near me" insists: "
You understand, the other day, I almost fell off my bicycle because a drug addict got in the way. the street to beg.
And then there are those who defecate on the sidewalk, it is unacceptable for our children
”.
As a result, the inhabitants are severely opposed to the idea of setting up a reception center for drug users near their homes.
►
Also to listen
:
Crack in Paris: hell for users, concern for residents
Previously secure management
For thirty years, the management of crack has met with an exclusively repressive response.
For example, on Friday September 24, the Paris police headquarters had a concrete wall erected at Porte de la Villette in Paris.
The State thus intends to prevent crack users from reaching the neighboring towns of Pantin and Aubervilliers.
Police management that in no way responds to the social and health emergency of crack users.
More recently, the prefect of police Didier Lallement ordered the town hall of Paris to destroy with blows of machines the shantytown of the smokers of crack which is located porte de la Villette. Tents and makeshift shelters were crushed. Since then, the camp has been "cleaned" three times a week.
The so-called "crack plan" action plan drawn up by the City of Paris, the Regional Health Agency, the regional and Paris prefectures, the interministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behavior, and the main medical players. -social workers working with people who use drugs – recommended, in 2019, among 33 operational measures, the opening of several rest areas scattered around Paris in order to allow people, day and night, to sleep, rest, socialize .
Yet, to this day, there is still only one safer consumption room in Paris intended solely for those who take drugs by injection.
But the real heart of the problem is accommodation.
We need structures for reception, rest, supervised consumption and care.
Antony is 33 years old, a beautiful smile and pretty teeth.
Teeth is what they lose first, drug addicts and Antony was no exception.
So he wears dentures.
He explains the benefits that the simple temporary respite of a hotel room has brought him.
“
We don't realize the good it can do physically and morally and it hurts my heart because not everyone has that chance.
I had to be taken by the hand.
Without the help of a social worker, I wouldn't have made it.
Now I don't want to be on the street anymore, it was an electric shock for me!
»
Catch up
The crack plan, launched in 2019, marked a fundamental first step.
But it is insufficient, both because of the lack of human resources and because of the difficulty in setting up risk reduction structures in order to significantly and sustainably reduce the crisis of open-air crack use.
Doctor Elisabeth Avril is a respected doctor.
She has been treating drug addicts for 30 years and runs the
Gaia association
.
She knows the benefits of accommodation and comes back to what seems to her to be the least of things: "
The fact of meeting people's basic needs, that is to say sleeping in safety, being able to eat, worrying about one's hygiene, I think this is the prerequisite for any care, when we meet people's basic needs, we can see improvements in most of them
”.
France is very late.
In Europe, in countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, street consumption has disappeared thanks to the development of micro reception facilities intelligently disseminated across the territory.
The effectiveness of these spaces is now validated and recognized by the scientific community.
►
Also to listen to [PODCAST]: France: what solutions for crack users?
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