PARIS (AP) — The northeastern neighborhoods of Paris have struggled for years with the scourge of crack cocaine and its use in public. The Summer Olympic Games, due to start in a little less than a year, bring impetus to address the problem.
Yet despite the rise in arrests and renewed promises of tightened security for the 2024 Olympics, some residents question whether the new approach is just forcing users to go elsewhere, instead of addressing the needs. medical and mental health problems, lack of housing and jobs, and other deeper ills that lie at the root of the crack crisis.
Residents of the French capital’s 18th and 19th arrondissements have long complained about open-air drug use in their neighborhoods, which stands in stark contrast to the groomed tourist areas of Paris further south.
It was recently possible to see small groups of people using illicit drugs at the Porte de la Chapelle metro station and at a nearby tram stop, located across the street from a new multi-purpose stadium where the competitions will take place. badminton and rhythmic gymnastics during the 2024 Olympic Games. Similar scenes occur along local riverbanks and public parks.
Last year, police evacuated a large camp for drug users in Place Forceval, right across from a huge park that hosts the Philharmonie de Paris and is also home to other cultural venues. Since then, police have carried out a massive operation to prevent more of them from congregating there, dispatching up to 600 officers a day in the northeastern part of the city alone.
Parisian police chief Laurent Nuñez vowed after taking office in 2022 to eradicate crack from the streets ahead of the Olympics. He recently declared that his work in this regard was a success.
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Police have arrested 255 people for selling crack cocaine in Paris so far this year, Nuñez said, compared with 285 in all of 2022. The French capital’s prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said that, on average, every day two people were brought to court on charges related to the use and sale of crack this year.
Although local residents welcome authorities’ attention to the problem, some say the number of users hasn’t necessarily decreased, but rather dispersed.
“If the police chief congratulates himself, it is because there have been no new encampments,” said Frédéric Francelle, spokesman for Collectif19, an association of 19th arrondissement residents calling for an end to drug use on the streets. “But there are still places where they are consumed openly.”
Francelle said that while the city’s current focus appears to be safety, narcotics users need medical and social help.
“We doubt that they are really trying to treat them before the Olympics start,” Francelle said. “They will just pressure them to go elsewhere. They will try to take them to the provinces or the suburbs”.
Last month, a drug treatment center across the street from the new Olympic stadium was moved a few blocks away. It is operated by two community associations, Gaïa-Paris and Aurore.
Center workers say visitor numbers spiked 30% after police cleared Forceval square, but in recent weeks it has dropped again, to about 150 people a day.
Local authorities have asked the associations to hire more people, open their doors earlier and close them later, according to Victor Deprez, deputy director of Gaïa-Paris.
“The idea is to expand our capabilities,” Deprez said. “In a way, their request is that these people not be visible on the streets during the day.”
In addition, work is underway to increase the number of hospital beds available for crack users in the Paris region, up from the 39 currently available in five sites to 50 by September, said Amélie Verdier, head of the state agency. of health of the Paris region. She was unable to provide an estimate of the number of crack users in the French capital today, although past estimates put the number in the several thousand.
Nuñez, the police chief, said that the police presence around the new stadium and other sites in the city will increase “five or 10 times” during the Olympics.
The stadium is one of a handful of venues being built for the Paris Olympics, all in disadvantaged, multi-ethnic neighborhoods, to give those areas an economic boost. The facilities will also be used at the Paralympic Games and will later be handed over to local clubs and schools.
“The Olympics are an opportunity to ask ourselves questions about the people who are still on the streets,” said Jamel Lazic, who oversees narcotics rooms in Gaïa-Paris, which are intended to put addicts at less risk and prepare them for receive treatment. “Maybe they will be an opportunity to try to deal with the problem and open large-scale facilities that can accommodate these people, and have a better strategy. Why not?”
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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
2023-08-03 13:52:06
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