more destructive than heroin and cocaine

Consumption spreads among drug addicts at risk of social exclusion

Christina He recovered from his heroin addiction but was overwhelmed by crack use. Cristina continued to work and make a living by holding on to the horse’s sting throughout her nearly two decades of drug addict life. personal hygienemaintaining emotional ties and, above all, a the roof under which the nights are spent. But the thin line separating him from the abyss had been completely erased by the crack.

In her statement to EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group, Cristina was originally Romanian and 38 yearsHe talks hard to sound like he’s so sleepy but is open about what it means to be addicted to this cocaine base drug. His case may surprise a society aware of the devastating damage caused by syringes. heroin -after the epidemics of the ’80s and ’90s-but ignoring this fissure linking the African-American milieu of the United States, it also traps the citizens of Catalonia, but they continue to live on the social margins. “Worse than a horse,” Cristina warns.

exclusion drug

according to incoming data Baluard narcosis of the Barcelonaonly place in town with crack smoker space – only one in Catalonia with similar features Leida-, inside 2019 More than 8,000 visits have been recorded. Inside 2020 More than 9,000 people came to this room in the Ciutat Vella district. Inside 2021 There were almost 10,000. Inside 2022, with a number ending in October, the total of the visits he attended reached 8,486. The Konkordato claims that resources will be invested in other parts of the country to serve consumers.

Resources from the health field Barcelona’s town hall they insist that crack use remains stable in the city. Increasing care, they say, does not mean the number of addicts has increased: the proportion of drug addicts coming to this center may have increased. According to a spokesperson’s details, their profile corresponds to people’s profile, in line with Cristina’s “at risk social exclusion” who avoids health care. Or they believe, in the words of Cristina, who gave up because of their addiction, “there is no future.”

“Crack eats my neurons. In those four years, it’s only been two days that I haven’t smoked, and that’s because they admitted me to the hospital. naval hospital‘, explains Cristina, when she wakes up after 48 hours of inactivity. how dirty he was and how black his nails were. “I thought I should look for a job and fix myself, but I went out and had the first cigarette. tubularI forgot nails and work and started over”.

cocaine base

Crack is made by mixing it with cocaine base. baking soda or ammonia. some occur crystals anyone stones It makes a crackling sound when ignited. Hence it owes its name. It is smoked in pipes or pipes. local hookah It is usually made from plastic mineral water bottles in which a plastic tube, which is the body of a Bic pen, is infused. A piece of perforated aluminum foil is placed around the neck of the bottle and the crack dose is placed on it, lit and inhaled through the plastic tube, which allows the toxic vapors of combustion to be inhaled.

“It rises very quickly and causes great stimulation.. But it also falls very fast. As with drugs with this behavior, they are highly addictive,” he explains. Mireia Venturadrug analysis director Energy Control. “It has been used for a long time in Catalonia, but it is not a comparable phenomenon to that in the United States because it continues to be associated with very vulnerable people. It is not a recreational drug that young people take at parties,” he analyzes. Ventura explains that the danger of crack is that, given its addictive capacity, it can eventually cause you to use too much.

sexual abuse

Cristina lives in Raval because there narco floorsIn her eyes, it looks like normal flats even though it’s full of people.”with bottles in hand Consuming crack”. As this paper progresses, the few narco-floors within them that continue to consent to drug use limit it to inhaling cocaine, heroin, and above all crack. infested with plastic bottles. And for Cristina, it’s more than just a humiliation pit where a woman’s condition exposes her to suffering. sexual abuseA place to stay and live if possible. So that they don’t have to go out to look for money by being a prostitute.

According to the consumers interviewed, half a gram of cocaine or heroin costs about 30 euros. what is crack price higherand half a gram 40 and 45 euros. “If I go to the pharmacy with 20 euros, I have to smoke for half an hour at the most. I don’t have the patience either and I want to go out and find money. keep consuming‘, explains Cristina. It’s an ‘endless’ cycle in which this woman has long lost hope of escape. ‘And most are like me,’ she warns.