"Cheaper than if they are in hospital": a shooting gallery soon to open in Marseille?

To deal with the presence of people suffering from drug addiction, some of the residents of the Belsunce district of Marseille have once again requested the opening of an Addiction Care Center .

Most of them are confronted with the presence of these addicts on the streets, who sometimes inject themselves in broad daylight. They find syringes or come across these individuals in the lobbies of buildings.

The phenomenon has exploded in this neighborhood, located near Saint-Charles train station. The project to open such a hall had already been proposed and then abandoned in early 2024. Now, the associations want discussions to resume. According to Franceinfo , the Marseille prosecutor and the deputy mayor in charge of public health directly support this initiative.

The establishment of an Addiction Care Center, also known as a "shooting room," has already been adopted by Paris and Strasbourg. For some, like Lucie, a nurse who once suffered from addiction, these facilities are essential.

About fifteen years earlier, wanting to get out of it, she went to a CSAPA (Center for Care, Support and Prevention in Addiction) and was followed by a doctor, a psychologist and a social worker.

"They didn't give up on me and thanks to them and my motivation, I got my nursing diploma and I've been practicing for 10 years," she says in Les Grandes Gueules , believing that her time at this center "saved her life."

During her addiction, Lucie never injected herself in broad daylight. She forbade herself to do so. The nurse believes that "a lot of work" needs to be done with street educators to stop people injecting themselves in public spaces.

For his part, Grégoire, an educator, points out how persistent the addiction is. "People will continue to inject even if you stop using all injectable products. I've followed people who were on OST (Opioid Substitution Therapy). Instead of taking them orally, they continued to crush them and inject them," he explains. Except that this habit threatens venous capital, sometimes leading to amputation, adds the educator.

When it comes to costs, he still defends the establishment of these Addiction Treatment Rooms. "These people will be treated with our taxes, so the money we put into a consumption room so they can inject safely will always cost less than if they are in hospital for years to be treated for an amputation, AIDS, or hepatitis," he concludes.