A truth above all: no one accepts a drug addiction center next to their home. We have to be realistic; such an establishment provokes protests from the neighborhood due to the addictive behaviors of the drug users and their surroundings.
The complexity and magnitude of the issue (see box) is such that no one can reasonably propose a turnkey solution. First of all, from one side to the other, is a drug user a sick person or a victim of circumstances? In this regard, is there an element of individual, societal responsibility, or both?
Of course, the easiest solution is to sweep in front of one’s own door, to pass the problem on to others: the sick should be treated, the guilty should be punished. Responsibility falls, depending on the case, on the health organization, the police, and the justice system.
Each of us wants to ignore the problem… but how long can we avoid facing it? Wouldn’t it be useful to ask the opinions of those involved or hear about their experiences through them or their relatives?
And then, ultimately, what can be the answer to such a vast and complex problem when we reduce a societal issue to the dimension of law and order or the (legitimate) tranquility of the neighborhood?
Without a humanitarian and supportive vision, no solution can be envisaged. Of course, the ideal would be to have no drug users at all. But since they are here, we have to think about it.
As for the present: NIMBY (not in my backyard), say the pragmatic Anglo-Saxons!
The summarized facts: the situation of the CAARUD on Offenbach Street had become sensitive for the Nice municipality, subject to increasingly strong complaints from the neighborhood residents. Hence the decision to relocate this center elsewhere, specifically in the Pasteur district (at 181, Rue Maréchal Liautey).
Quite naturally, the inhabitants of the district are refusing this option, with tensions rising and mentions of resorting to violence increasing (see the statement from the neighborhood collective: “We call on all the residents of the neighborhood who wish to preserve a quality of life and who refuse that the city hall shifts all the social problems towards Pasteur to mobilize massively to push back the mayor.”).
The mayor, in turn, has contacted the Minister of Health (as it’s a governmental competency) to “take charge of drug addicts in the Alpes-Maritimes by agreeing to integrate Nice’s CAARUDs into a hospital center in the city.”
This provoked a reaction from the opposition.
The Socialist group, through its local spokesperson Xavier Garcia, is calling for the suspension of the decision:
“This decision was made without any consultation and disrupts an entire neighborhood faced with a fait accompli, filling it with a deep sense of contempt. That’s why I ask you to suspend the project and initiate a consultation to dialogue with neighborhood representatives and explore other avenues more aligned with the interest of drug addicts and the people of Nice, notably a solution in a hospital setting.”
Meanwhile, Gaël Nofri, a mission officer for the Rassemblement Bleu Marine/FN, criticizes the municipal policy: “This choice also tragically expresses the majority’s contempt for the Pasteur district; a district full of hope, which fights against impoverishment and the consequences of massive immigration, despite the lack of local municipal initiatives.”
All this was further supplemented by the decision of the Mayor of Nice to cancel his previous… decision: “I have acknowledged the legitimate concerns of the Pasteur district residents and have decided that the CAARUD will not be established there.
At the same time, I confirm the closure of the ‘Entractes’ center on Offenbach Street in October, because this location is no longer suitable, and I refuse for local residents to continue suffering from the nuisances generated.
That’s why I urgently requested a meeting with the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Director to find an appropriate solution in a hospital setting to accommodate these vulnerable populations.”
Is everything over? Not really.
Here’s the response from Patrick Allemand, Nice’s socialist leader: “The decision of the Mayor of Nice to reverse the establishment of a CAARUD in Pasteur is a wise one. It should not overshadow the indispensable and priority nature of having a CAARUD in the city center.
While waiting for an alternative solution that I hope for, the Mayor cannot close the CAARUD on Offenbach Street.”
In the end, everyone has “their” reasons!
From this file, a small moral remains in the face of the endless complexity of this problem; is the time for true awareness not yet arrived?
Doing, undoing, and then redoing, what purpose does it really serve?
