On the sidewalks, under porches, in parking lots, they are more and more numerous, more and more precarious: smokers or "injectors" of a cocaine omnipresent in the center of Marseille, they wander, dependent on submerged associations, between the violence of dealers and the fed-up residents.
It's 9:00 a.m. in July, in Belsunce Square, a stone's throw from the Old Port and the Canebière. The city's mandated syringe collectors are moving among the passersby, armed with long tongs and a yellow container mounted on a trolley.
In two years, the budget allocated by the town hall to this clean-up has increased sixfold, to 152,000 euros for 2025, more than the total subsidies (150,000 euros) paid to risk reduction associations.
An "aberration" for Antoine Henry, director of the ASUD Mars Say Yeah association, which, until its abandonment in January 2024, supported the Marseille project of Halte soins addictions (HSA), described as a "shooting gallery" by its detractors.
"Everything was tied up and financed, then the Ministry of the Interior took control, which vetoed the project based on opposition from some local residents and certain politicians," recalls the director of ASUD, who, along with other associations including Médecins du Monde, filed a legal appeal against the suspension.
Launched 40 years ago in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, there are now around a hundred of these "low-risk consumption rooms" in Europe, but only two in France, in Paris and Strasbourg, which are coming to the end of a trial phase at the end of December.
It's midday at the Bourse shopping center, which adjoins the ancient port. In front of the underground parking lot, a man lies with two syringes stuck in his right arm.
At the entrance to a nearby alleyway, a young "chouf" (lookout) keeps watch, a few dozen meters from the Canebière, his police station and the municipal police station.
– “Spectators of despair” –
"Today, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 street users in the city center, most of them without housing or income, often contaminated, without access to rights, or even without papers," lists the director of ASUD, whose "active user list has doubled in two years."
This increase he explains is due to a "general precariousness" in France's poorest metropolis, but also to the proliferation of small drug dealing spots in city centers since 2023. These are "annexes" of the housing projects' networks, operating 24/7, "close to the most precarious consumers" who buy cocaine there for ten euros a dose.
"We're seeing more and more young people, more and more women," says Youcef Mahi, a caretaker in Belsunce. "I'm not judging. We're just spectators of despair..."
Zohra (name changed), 36, lives between the streets and prison. Seriously ill, she shivers under her parka, in the blazing sun. She says she is "given" the cocaine she injects, but she doesn't smoke "the crack that drives you crazy."
Scared, Zohra hides from everyone, from the police, the doctors, the drug dealers who compete with each other in shootings and brawls between Porte d'Aix and Saint-Charles station.
Regularly, during his outreach with his association Nouvelle Aube, Joachim Levy meets Zohra and tirelessly tries to convince her to accept treatment: "Otherwise, you'll die there."
At the foot of a building, a small group, like dozens of others in the neighborhood, sits. One is "cooking" his crack, the other is stacking pills. Unlike in Paris, crack in Marseille is rarely sold ready-to-use; users prepare it themselves, heating the cocaine with ammonia.
From his backpack, "Jo" distributes packaged syringes, pipes, disinfectant wipes, and bicarbonate, "less harmful" than ammonia.
– “I fall into it” –
A few streets away, a Nouvelle Aube team is talking with men who have taken refuge under the A7 motorway. "We offer rapid screening tests for HIV and hepatitis and refer them to the hospital if necessary. They no longer have any survival strategies," says Marie-Lou.
With her glittery sneakers, her little skirt, and her handbag, Laurène (name changed) stands out as she turns a staircase. "I don't know you," "Jo" calls out to her. Laurène tells her about her excessive debt and temporary accommodation with her child "at an ex's house." "Before, I smoked, I snorted a little, and then I started taking crack and I realize I'm falling into it..."
“This early detection is an essential part of my work,” explains “Jo,” who invites Laurène to call her “anytime.”
"The biggest problem isn't drug use," he says. "It's the great insecurity, the isolation, the street violence, mental health—that's what we need to address as a priority."
For him, "one or, better, several HSAs would be an excellent solution allowing networking between all partners."
"All scientific studies, in France and abroad, have demonstrated the effectiveness of HSA-type devices, both in terms of risk reduction, public health and public tranquility," says Perrine Roux, research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), which published a report in 2021 evaluating the Paris and Strasbourg rooms.
"Science no longer has any weight, it's very worrying," she says.
"It's understandable that local residents are reluctant: they're thinking, 'A shooting gallery? All the city's drug addicts are going to show up,'" explains Alain Chiapello, president of the Centre-Bourse Neighborhood Interest Committee (CIQ). "What scandalizes me is the demagogy of politicians who can't ignore scientific reports!" storms this former psychiatrist.
"A consensus will be difficult to find, especially just a few months before the municipal elections," laments Karim, representative of the Belsunce collective, which has been calling for months for better security in the neighborhood and also for the opening of a health and safety center.
On Thursday, the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône announced a "reinforced strategy to combat crime and trafficking in the city center," with police and CRS reinforcements to "pound drug dealing points and saturate the area," and 310 new surveillance cameras.
Meanwhile, in Belsunce Square, the fountain is no longer flowing. "At least if they don't have any more water, fewer drug addicts will come," one resident believes.
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