For 30 years, crack has been the bane of this part of the capital, near Place Stalingrad, in the less glamorous northeast of the city. Since last year, city officials have stepped up efforts to curb the use of the drug: more police patrols, arresting dealers and providing housing for addicts. So far, however, it has all been in vain. For Paris is the capital of crack, he says: the only place in France where you can find it on sale, ready-made. Anywhere else, and you would have to "cook" it yourself, buying the cocaine then cutting it with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), or ammonia. The city puts the number of crack users in Paris at 1,500. Police and prosecutors have resisted plans to set aside spaces for addicts where they can take their drugs away from public areas.

Psiquiatra especializada no tratamento de dependentes de álcool e drogas, Nicola Worcman observa com olhar crítico a mudança de foco da Política Nacional de Drogas — da chamada redução de danos para o modelo exclusivo da abstinência , como consta do decreto que definiu o novo rumo, assinado no início deste mês. Ela procura sintetizar o que são a redução de danos e a abstinência. E propõe que um modelo não seja contraposto ao outro, mas que haja uma dialética entre ambos, para assim entender os diversos níveis de complexidade no tratamento de dependentes químicos. (Leia também: Ministro ataca Fiocruz e diz que 'não confia' em estudo sobre drogas, engavetado pelo governo)

Paris authorities have bricked up a tunnel that connects Paris and the northeastern suburb of Pantin in the département of Seine-Saint-Denis, after moving dozens of crack smokers into the area, a measure that has sparked fury and despair among residents. For residents of Pantin, the wall blocks a pedestrian walkway to the capital, fails to protect them from Paris’s decades-long crack problem, and symbolises their segregation from the affluent French capital. Residents are furious they were given no prior warning about the wall – it was built without consulting local authorities – and that most of them found out about it from the press or on social media. (See also: France tries to wall off crack users — With an actual wall | The Wall of Shame – Why crack consumption rooms are needed in Paris)

Hasta seis años de cárcel contra las personas que posean una cantidad de marihuana para su consumo propio mayor a la permitida, planteó en un proyecto de ley el congresista de Somos Perú Jorge Luis Pérez Flores. La iniciativa legislativa 5012/2020-CR, que lleva, además de su firma, la de otros 8 parlamentarios de Somos Perú, propone modificar el artículo 299 del Código Penal, y con esta modificación, establecer la punición de la posesión de marihuana y, en general, de drogas para consumo propio, invirtiendo así la naturaleza de la actual normativa. A la fecha, el artículo 299 del Código Penal no contempla la punición de esta circunstancia, según lo indica el mismo texto de la norma.

Swiss cities are adapting their drug policies in the face of new forms of drug use. Thirty years after the open drug scene in Zurich, experts say it is time to act. New ways of acting must also be developed because of new types of drugs, according to the organisation Addiction Switzerland. The arrival of ready-to-consume “crack rocks” in Geneva two years ago broke the relative stability of the drug landscape and consumption patterns in that canton, Addiction Switzerland deputy director Frank Zobel said. In addition, drug use in public spaces is on the rise again throughout Switzerland – from Geneva to Basel, Lausanne, Chur and Zurich. Mini-drug scenes are the result. This is related to the very high availability of cocaine. (See also: Geneva struggles with crack-cocaine epidemic)

There is a glut of research surrounding safer alternatives for people who use opioids. Less well researched are safer alternatives for crack cocaine use—though some argue that chewing coca leaf (a precursor to cocaine and, thus, crack) has potential. A kind of crack vape pen, yet to be developed, could be a valuable harm reduction tool, mitigating some of the health risks of consuming crack from illicit sources, according to a new paper. “It’s a thought I’ve had for a very long time,” Fabian P. Steinmetz, a toxicologist who co-authored the paper with social scientist Heino Stöver, told Filter. Steinmetz emphasized that this is an entirely theoretical concept—even setting aside legal barriers, there’s no prototype and no experiments have been done to make such a pen.

An ethnographic study of women and drug use in inner city neighborhoods in Kingston, Jamaica, revealed that cannabis is commonly used in conjunction with crack cocaine to minimize the undesirable effects of crack pipe smoking, specifically paranoia and weight loss.

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An ethnographic study of women and drug use in inner city neighborhoods in Kingston, Jamaica, revealed that cannabis is commonly used in conjunction with crack cocaine to minimize the undesirable effects of crack pipe smoking, specifically paranoia and weight loss.

Download the document (PDF)

Consuming cannabis every day could delay at-risk youth from moving on to injecting more dangerous drugs, according to a new study that casts doubt upon the age-old assumption that marijuana acts as a gateway for teens to try other more harmful substances. The research, from scientists at the BC Centre on Substance Use, also adds to other work that has suggested marijuana could be used as a substitute for people addicted to opioids. Researchers repeatedly interviewed 481 homeless young people in Vancouver’s downtown core who had never injected any drugs and found - over a decade of tracking this at-risk cohort - that daily cannabis use was associated with a 34 per cent decrease in the rate people started injecting drugs.

In Bristol, there were 49 drug related deaths in 2017/18 – the highest ever recorded. There are almost 5,000 heroin and crack users in the city and, despite Bristol’s well-regarded treatment services, there are 2,000 people who aren’t getting any help. In 2018, a feasibility study into whether a safe consumption room (SCR) could benefit Bristol was commissioned by the council, but it wasn’t published. The study found evidence that an SCR could help reduce Bristol’s high levels of the drug-related harms, particularly among heroin and crack users with complex needs who struggle to engage with current treatment. Currently the Home Office remains opposed, but drug policy experts have suggested local authorities would have the power to open them if there was agreement with police and other stakeholders.

Vancouver health officials will distribute new crack pipes to non-injection drug users this fall as part of a pilot project aimed at engaging crack cocaine smokers and reducing the transmission of disease such as hepatitis C, HIV and even respiratory illnesses. The program, part of Vancouver's harm reduction strategy, is expected to start in October and run for six months to a year. The intent is to connect health care workers with crack cocaine smokers to evaluate how many of the drug users are in the city and what equipment they need to lower their risk of catching diseases. A kit with a clean, unused pipe, mouthpiece, filter and condoms will be handed out to the participants.

Um estudo sobre drogas feito pela Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) está no centro de um impasse entre o governo, que o engavetou, e a comunidade científica. Na opinião de especialistas, a pesquisa teria sido escanteada pelo governo por um motivo: ela não confirma que o Brasil vive uma "epidemia de drogas" conforme afirma o ministro da cidadania, Osmar Terra. Terra chegou a dizer ainda que não confiava nas pesquisas conduzidas pela Fundação. A reportagem teve acesso à íntegra do documento que mostra que enquanto o governo endurece as políticas para drogas ilícitas, deixa de olhar para uma substância cujos índices despontam no país: os opiáceos. (Leia também: Ideologia contamina tema das drogas)

A decision to stop a clean crack-pipe distribution program has disappointed those working to rehabilitate street addicts. Since 2008, Alberta Health Services had been giving out crack-pipe kits as part of the Safeworks program, an effort to reduce transmittable diseases. The kits contained a glass pipe, mouthpiece and cleaning tool and were handed out in an AHS van. More than 14,500 crack pipes were given out as of June 2011. The program was an effective first step in engaging hardcore, street-involved crack cocaine addicts. However, AHS has discontinued the Safeworks crack pipe program, citing the “potential for a legal challenge with respect to distribution.”

El presidente Mujica de Uruguay declaró que en materia de drogas la preocupación del gobierno se centra en el narcotráfico porque “ese tipo de delito tiende a derramar una cultura delictiva sin freno donde la vida humana no cuenta”. La Junta Internacional de Fiscalización de Estupefacientes (JIFE) de las Naciones Unidas rechaza los planteos de legalización de la marihuana. Los gobiernos más criticados son los de Uruguay y Estados Unidos. (Véase también: Mujica contrario al autocultivo y propone suministro en hospitales)

El alcalde de Bogotá, Gustavo Petro Urrego, se refirió al interés del Gobierno Nacional por replicar el esquema de Bogotá 'Bazuco Cero', que brinda tratamiento a los consumidores de bazuco. Muchos de los delitos que se cometen en la ciudad son producto de la ansiedad que produce el bazuco. Petro aseguró que según encuestas y estudios a través de los CAMAD (Centro de Atención Móvil a Drogodependientes), se ha determinado que una de los alternativas de atención a la población adicta al bazuco es el suministro de marihuana terapéutica.

Hace 25 años que São Paulo, la ciudad más poblada de América, combate sin éxito su mayor foco urbano de consumo de crack. Un megaoperativo policial recuperó este año el territorio dominado por el narcotráfico y dispersó a los usuarios por el centro. El uso de la fuerza para luchar contra la adicción ha reavivado el debate entre las dos posturas principales: el tratamiento obligatorio y la reducción de daños. Desde la megaoperación, la policía ha encarcelado a 166 personas y los usuarios que siguen en la calle no han vuelto a concentrarse en un solo lugar. La dispersión es la estrategia. “El principal problema es tratar una situación de salud pública con fuerzas de seguridad. La policía debe dedicarse a la inteligencia y combate al narcotráfico, no a intervenir con los usuarios”.

El mercado de cocaína fumable se estableció hace décadas, por lo que no se trata de un fenómeno nuevo. En lugar de desaparecer, está experimentando una expansión paulatina, y ha pasado de constituir un hábito bastante localizado y aislado en la región andina en la década de 1970 a tener un alcance que se despliega en todas las direcciones, en toda América del Norte y del Sur, incluidas las regiones del Caribe y América Central. Las sociedades del continente americano han convivido con las cocaínas fumables durante más de cuatro décadas, pero —aunque resulte sorprendente—, existen pocos estudios sobre la evolución del mercado y pocas pruebas de primera mano sobre cómo se comercializa realmente esta sustancia y cómo la utilizan millones de personas en la región.

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The smokable cocaine market was established decades ago, and is definitely not a new phenomenon. Rather than disappear, it is undergoing a slow expansion: from constituting a rather localized and isolated habit in the Andean region in the 1970s, its reach has extended in all directions, throughout North and South-America, including the Caribbean and Central American regions. Societies in the Americas have coexisted with smokable cocaines for over four decades, but - surprisingly - there is a dearth of research on the development of the market, or much first-hand evidence of how this substance is actually commercialized and used by millions of people in the region.

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Today, the contributions of drug suppliers towards harm reduction efforts remain mostly neglected by history, although some within the grassroots end of the movement still emphasise their critical role. The work of Van Dam in The Netherlands and Southwell in the United Kingdom is part of a mostly-forgotten history of drug dealers organising themselves and alongside drug-user activists to advance the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs. In 1996, as the City of Rotterdam was cracking down on the public presence of drug suppliers and consumers, or what they called “nuisances,” the City officially supported drug consumption rooms (DCR). But some drug-user activists were skeptical of these newly above-ground programs. “It is only concerned with regulating and monitoring users.”