Next year’s Olympics are giving Paris an impetus to confront crack cocaine use on city streets

By YOUCEF BOUNAB
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Neighborhoods in northeast Paris have struggled for years with the scourge of crack cocaine and its use in public. The Summer Olympics kicking off a year from Wednesday are offering an impetus to tackle the problem. Yet despite a surge in arrests and new promises of tougher security around the 2024 Paris Games, some residents question whether the newfound focus is just pushing users elsewhere instead of treating deeper ills at the root of the crack crisis. Residents in the 18th and 19th arrondissements, or districts, of the French capital have long complained about the open-air crack use in their neighborhoods that stands in sharp contrast to the postcard-perfect tourist areas of Paris farther south.