On July 21, when Laurent Nunez was inaugurated in his new post as Paris police chief, Gérald Darmanin gave him an ultimatum on crack. He wanted that “within a year, and that this serious health and security problem, which is rotting the lives of Parisians, be resolved”. This quickly resulted, on October 5, in the evacuation of the Forceval site, near the Porte de la Villette, where several hundred crack users had settled. Since then the police have been patrolling to avoid any reformation of an open-air consumption site, but crack has not disappeared from the streets of Paris.
Because this cocaine derivative, very addictive, represents a complex problem of public health and safety. It concerns a mostly very disadvantaged public, sometimes undocumented and often psychologically fragile, which does not facilitate the exit from addiction. But above all, the solutions for overcoming crack are far from unanimous with an abscess of fixation, the “shooting rooms” or Halte Soins Addictions where, as in Lariboisière (10th arrondissement), drug addicts can consume sheltered and safe for later care. We explain all these issues in detail in the video at the top of the article. Good viewing !