Open Drug Scene Research Articles

Care, co-survival, and decency: expanding the understanding of outdoor life and smaller alcohol and drug scenes in Denmark and Norway.

Public spaces where alcohol and other drugs are openly used and marginal citizens gather, exist in many Nordic cities. The biggest open drug scenes in the Nordic countries are in cities like Oslo and Copenhagen; however, there are smaller scenes in other cities and suburbs, centered around shed-like structures, offering some form of shelter and a designated space for marginalized people involved in heavy drug and alcohol use who hang out in public space. In this paper, we investigate, in a comparative perspective, the characteristics and functions of smaller open alcohol and drug scenes, and how their existence is negotiated in the local community and among the citizens using them. This article is a comparative case-study based on data from fieldwork (participating observation and interviews) carried out in two specific, yet somewhat similar, locations in Denmark and Norway between 2017 - 2022. A cross-case analysis was performed to identify commonalities and differences. Smaller open alcohol and drug scenes are non-regulated spaces of ambivalence and ongoing negotiation in local communities. Based on the data across locations, they represent possibilities for informal care and community for citizens in marginalized situations. The scenes are further, across location, characterized by a mutual agreement of performing decency, e.g., not allowing minor drug sale/use. To enable public spaces as smaller alcohol and drug scenes can play a role in reducing harm for marginalized citizens. Communication and dialogue between citizens using an open drug scene and the wider community may help reduce stigma.

Addiction: what's new in 2023

Addiction medicine is currently facing new challenges, such as drug epidemics and open drug scenes. It is responding to these challenges with a range of innovations: 1. The commercialization of opioid-assisted treatment (OAT) is a major step forward. 2. In Geneva, a community outreach project involving mental health peer practitioners targets the emerging crack scene, demonstrating its effectiveness in directing this marginalized population towards care. 3. In Switzerland, two projects in French-speaking Switzerland are testing hybrid models of cannabis regulation. Evaluation of these projects will guide the best approach to cannabis regulation.

Willingness to use a drug consumption room among people who use drugs in Lyon, France, a city with no open scene of drug use (the TRABOUL survey)

BackgroundDrug consumption rooms (DCRs) have been developed in cities with open drug scenes, with the aim to reduce drug-related harm. In Lyon, France's second-largest city, there is no distinct drug use area, which raised doubts regarding the need for a DCR.MethodsWe conducted a face-to-face survey of 264 people who use drugs (PWUDs), recruited in harm reduction or addiction treatment centers, in the streets or in squats. We assess their willingness to use a DCR, and we collected sociodemographic and medical features. Bivariable comparisons and analyses adjusted for sociodemographic parameters explored the association between willing to use a DCR and other variables, thus providing crude (ORs) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).ResultsIn total, 193 (73.1%) PWUDs accepted to participate (mean age 38.5 ± 9.3 years; 80.3% men). Among them, 64.2% declared willing to use a DCR. Being treatment-seeker (aOR 0.20, 95% CI [0.08–0.51]; p < 0.001) and not living alone (aOR 0.29; 95% CI [0.10–0.86], p = 0.025) were negatively associated with willing to use a DCR. By contrast, receiving precarity social insurance (aOR 4.12; 95% CI [1.86–9.14], p < 0.001), being seropositive for hepatitis C (aOR 3.60; 95% CI [1.20–10.84], p = 0.022), being cannabis user (aOR 2.45; 95% CI [1.01–5.99], p = 0.049), and reporting previous problems with residents (aOR 5.99; 95% CI [2.16–16.58], p < 0.001) or with the police (aOR = 4.85; 95% CI [1.43–16.39], p = 0.011) were positively associated.ConclusionsPWUDs, especially the most precarious ones, largely supported the opening of a DCR in Lyon, a city with no open drug scene.

Main problems experienced by the neighbors of open drug scenes, Tehran, Iran: a mixed-method study

BackgroundDespite law enforcement and health interventions, open drug scenes have led to problems in many countries. The problems are, however, insufficiently explored. There are different types of drug scenes in Iran. This study aimed to explore the issues related to neighbors of one of the drug scenes in Tehran known as Farahzad.MethodsData were generated via semi-structured interviews in the first step of the current mixed-method study (2020–2021). Interviewees were people who use drugs (PWUDs), residents and business owners (N = 25). In the next step, a quantitative observation was conducted for eight days. The results were analyzed using conventional content analysis and descriptive statistics.ResultsThe perceived problems were ambivalent attitudes about drug scene-related activities, violate of the territory of the self of the effected residents, and everyday concerns. The observation results indicated that men who use drugs are involved in drug scene-related activities more than women are. PWUDs try to hide their activities from the public view. Their efforts were considered “self-regulatory strategies” in the drug scene.ConclusionsDespite efforts of PWUDs to keep their activities invisible, drug scene-related issues are intolerable for neighbors. Neighbors and PWUDs have ambivalent attitudes. While they are concerned about the human rights of each other, drug scene-related activities have disturbed the neighbor’s daily life and economic activities. Although law enforcement and harm reduction interventions reduce some of the problems, one of the approaches should be improving the coexistence between the neighbors and the residents of the drug scene to achieve broader and more sustainable compromises.

Pandemic lockdown as policy window for street-level innovation of health and substitution treatment services for people who use drugs

PurposeThis paper aims to examine policy innovation among street-level bureaucrats at low-threshold services to people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on two research projects conducted during the first pandemic lockdown in Denmark. The first is a case study of how COVID-19 impacted on people who use drugs (PWUD) and services for PWUD at the open drug scene in the neighborhood of Vesterbro in Copenhagen. The second is an ethnographic study of how users of services at the intersection of drug use and homelessness were impacted by lockdown.FindingsDrawing on Kingdon’s “multiple policy streams” approach, this study shows how lockdown opened a “policy window” for innovating services to people who use drugs. This paper further shows how the pandemic crisis afforded street-level bureaucrats new possibilities for acting as “policy entrepreneurs” in a context where vertical bureaucratic barriers and horizontal cross-sectoral silos temporarily collapsed. Finally, the authors show how this had more lasting effects through the initiation of outreach opioid substitution treatment.Social implicationsIn Denmark, the emergence of a “policy window” for street-level bureaucrats to act as street-level “entrepreneurs” occurred in a context of rapid government response to the pandemic. For crises to act as “policy windows” for innovation depends on strong, preexisting institutional landscapes.Originality/valueThis paper adds to existing literature on policy innovation during COVID-19 in two ways: methodologically by contributing an ethnographically grounded approach to studying policy innovation and theoretically by examining the conditions that allowed policy innovation to occur.

Predicting Gun Violence in Stockholm, Sweden, Using Sociodemographics, Crime and Drug Market Locations

AbstractThe well-being of neighbourhoods in terms of socioeconomic conditions constitutes an important element in analyses focused on the explanation of crime trends and public safety. Recent developments in Sweden concerning gun violence and open drug scenes are worrying and the police are under a great deal of pressure to resolve the situation in many neighbourhoods, which is in turn affecting Swedish society as a whole. This study focuses on micro areas in terms of sociodemographic factors and the presence of drug markets and gun violence. The aim is to explore the relationship between these factors and what characterises areas that are experiencing the greatest difficulties. The study develops an index for the prediction of gun violence in micro areas, in this study portrayed by vector grids. The findings show an overlap between gun violence and drug markets and that micro areas in that overlap share harsh sociodemographic conditions. The study produces an index indicating the probability that a grid cell would experience gun violence. The index was then validated using recent gun incidents, and was found to have high accuracy. The resulting grids constitute a suitable target for resource allocation by police and other actors. This could facilitate a more accurate and precise focus for measures to prevent areas from becoming—or to disrupt already existing—hot spots for gun violence.

Inclusive gentrification? Reproducing logics of exclusion in strategies for inclusive urban planning

PurposeThe authors investigate two contrasting, yet mutually constitutive strategies for regulating open drug scenes in the city of Aarhus, Denmark: A strategy of dispersing marginalized substance users from the inner city, and a simultaneous strategy of inclusion in a new, gentrifying neighbourhood.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply a multi-temporal ethnography approach, including data from studies dating back to 2002. This enables us to scrutinize reconfigurations of processes of exclusion and inclusion in urban city life based on studies that in different ways feed into the broader picture of how socially marginalized citizens are included and excluded in urban space.FindingsThe municipality of Aarhus sways between strategies of dispersion and exclusion and those of inclusion of marginalized citizens. Taken together, these strategies constitute a “messy middle ground” (May and Cloke, 2014) in responses to the street people rather than either clear-cut punitive or supportive strategies. Finally, we point to the limit of inclusion in more recent strategies aimed at including marginalized citizens in urban planning of a new, gentrifying neighbourhood.Originality/valueThe article builds on studies that in critical engagement with the dominating focus on punitive or revanchist approaches to regulation of homeless citizens' presence in urban space have shown how such regulating practices are rarely punishing alone. We contribute to this literature by showing how seemingly contradictory attempts to exclude, disperse and include socially marginalized citizens in different urban settings are relational rather than in outright opposition. In continuation of this, we show how dispersal strategies both depend on and are legitimized by the promotion of alternative and more inclusive settings elsewhere.

Marginalised identities between fatalism and desperation – experiences of low-level cannabis street dealers in Frankfurt

Purpose This paper aims to research people who sell cannabis in public spaces known as “drug places” in Frankfurt, Germany. A particular focus is set to the relations of identity formation, relations to other dealers and law enforcement, taking into account the concept of “street capital” as social and cultural capital accumulated in the practice of drug dealing in public. Design/methodology/approach Nine biographically oriented qualitative interviews were conducted directly within the respective “drug places” in the inner city and the margins of the local open drug scene with exclusively male subjects. Interviews were conducted in German, audio-recorded and transcribed. Data was analysed with structured qualitative content analysis. Findings All respondents had some degree of migration background, ranging from German citizens up to refugees with illegal residence permit status. Social deprivation, socio-cultural conflicts with parents, combined with often early own drug use (mainly cannabis and cocaine) and stigma had contributed to a precarious existence. Experiences of criminalisation did not discourage the respondents from the continuation of their selling activity. Violence in these settings was likely but assessed in highly different ways depending on attitudes and experiences. The same is true for diverging experiences with police, however, the threat of being criminalised is always present. Originality/value As mostly independent and solitary dealers, this study researched a rarely investigated group. While these respondents have developed skills or street capital to survive in the respective setting, they are caught between unfavourable social conditions, social exclusion, violence, law enforcement and own drug use, leading to a desperate and fatalistic mindset. Somewhat paradoxically, this fatalism may be regarded as a result of keeping control over their own actions.

Sociological and spatial dynamics of an evolving Parisian open drug scene: the case of the “Colline du Crack”

Purpose In November 2019, an open drug scene, commonly called “Colline du crack” and located in Paris was forcibly closed after 10 years of existence. This paper aims to understand how that space has evolved over the years to become a major hub for drug use. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a qualitative approach that included interviews with 52 people who use drugs (PWUD) and 54 field professionals and ethnographic observations. The authors asked questions about the evolution of the major sites of crack visibility in Paris and about social representations related to these spaces. They compared their datas with datas drawn from gray literature. Findings La Colline emerged on an isolated slope, away from police repression and local anti-crack organizations. In the beginning, it was a discrete, communal space regulated by PWUD. Starting in 2015, social transformations in the neighborhood turned la Colline into a central hub for dealing and using crack. La Colline became an open scene which led to its evacuation in 2019. Originality/value This paper contributes to literature on community building of drug consumers. The authors are also using a wide variety of methodological tools.

Tolerance zones: a pragmatic approach to respond to problems related to open alcohol and drug scenes in Bremen/Germany

Purpose This study aims to describe and analyse an approach in the city of Bremen (Germany) to establish streetwork-supported tolerance zones for local open drug and alcohol scenes to reduce related disorder and nuisance in public spaces. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative methodology included systematic participant observations at public sites of drug and alcohol use, and problem-centred interviews with different groups of respondents (residents, passers-by, trades people, drug users, experts from addiction help and police). Findings In residential districts, tolerance zones were well accepted by their target group and found to reduce perceived disorder and nuisance in public space. However, their success depends on the social and spatial conditions of the chosen location, its surrounding urban infrastructure, cooperation among local actors and characteristics of drug using groups. Originality/value Usually, policing of open drug scenes focuses on repression and law enforcement. The example of Bremen suggests that streetwork-supported tolerance zones dedicated to the drug scene can substantially reduce disorder and nuisance in public space.

Drug dealing and drug use prevention \u2013 a qualitative interview study of authorities\u2019 perspectives on two open drug scenes in Stockholm

BackgroundThe use of illicit substances causes various health and social problems globally. Moreover, open drug use and dealing in urban areas, i.e., open drug scenes, can cause public order problems, lead to the recruitment of marginalized and young people for drug use or sale, and induce feelings of insecurity in the general public. Although some international studies have described various ways to manage open drug scenes, such as law enforcement and social interventions, there is limited knowledge about the facilitators and barriers promoting or impeding the implementation of such interventions. The aim of the current study was to explore how different authorities describe the nature of two open drug scenes in Stockholm and to derive authorities’ perspective on facilitators and barriers to implementing interventions to reduce open drug dealing, drug use, and related problems at these locations.MethodsSemi-structured interviews with police officers, security staff, social workers, and municipality officials (n = 21) in the municipality of Stockholm were conducted and analyzed by qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe analysis of the interviews generated the following categories: Problems, Interventions, Organizational factors, and External factors, revealing information about the strategic and daily counteracting work occurring at the open drug scenes as well as authorities’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers to implementing interventions to reduce open drug dealing, drug use, and related problems. Facilitators included motivated and skilled professionals and organized collaboration between key actors. Prominent barriers were a lack of resources to maintain personnel continuity at the scenes, policies that impede information sharing and put security staff in danger, and people who use or sell drugs without having residence permits.ConclusionsTo increase the possibility of successful implementation of interventions to counteract open drug dealing, politicians and authorities should pay attention to collaboration between key actors, sufficient resource allocation, possible modification of policy governing professional duties, and remedies to the vulnerability of individuals without residence permits.

Assessing oral health of crack users in Brazil: Perceptions and associated factors, findings from a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT This study explores associated factors and perceptions of oral health among crack users recruited in open drug scenes in Brazil. A mixed methods approach was used. The quantitative component analysed findings from a large (N = 7381), population-based survey. The outcomes under analysis were ‘self-perception of oral health’ and ‘self-reporting of problems affecting the mouth, teeth and gingiva (gums)’. The qualitative component comprised a focus group, with 12 individuals recruited from a drug treatment clinic. Lower self-perception of oral health problems vis-à-vis a higher prevalence of problems affecting the mouth, teeth, and gingiva were found in users who had a lower level of education, used substances daily, had worse self-perception of physical health, did not receive health care and regularly used alcohol and/or tobacco. The results show an association between substance use and decline in oral health, as well as the lack of health services focusing on such issues. Oral health services should be emphasised as a gateway to the health system. So far, the putative cross-referral between services and professionals working in oral health and other health professionals working in the field of drug dependence has not been observed.

Managing Coexistence: Resident Experiences of the Open Drug Scene and Drug Consumption Rooms in Inner Vesterbro, Copenhagen

The inner-city area of Inner Vesterbro in Copenhagen, Denmark, houses the largest open drug scene in Scandinavia. Since the 1980s, the area has been a gathering point for people who use, buy, and sell drugs. During the last two decades, urban redevelopments have resulted in marked demographic changes amid concerns about processes of gentrification. The drug scene, however, remains, and the last 7 years have seen the implementation of a new police strategy of “nonenforcement” of minor drug possession offences alongside the opening of two drug consumption rooms (DCRs) in the area. This article presents findings from a study of resident attitudes toward local DCRs and daily experiences of the open drug scene. Specifically, we draw on material generated via an online questionnaire distributed among residents in the area ( N = 566) and qualitative interviewing of 33 residents. The article also proposes a change in perspective toward drug scene encounters, one that is not hinged exclusively on a narrow understanding of nuisances understood as negative affective states. This new approach is employed in an analysis of resident experiences of drug scene encounters. The analysis shows that rather than experiencing drug users and the drug scene exclusively as a nuisance or threat to community order, most residents are supportive of DCRs and generally accept the presence of a drug scene in the area. The article concludes with a brief discussion of results and their relation to current debates on urban coexistence, progressive harm reduction initiatives, and public space management.

Interaction rituals in an open drug scene.

Aims:Open drug scenes can be found in most major cities in Europe. Despite often being closed down by the police, the drug community continues to exist, and the drug scenes reappear elsewhere. There seem to be forces that hold these communities together, regardless of the substances used. In this study we explore whether interaction rituals have an impact on the decision by people to stay in the drug scene or to return after quitting their drug use.Method:In this ethnographic study, one of the researchers spent time in an open drug scene in a Norwegian city over a one-year span and gathered data on the human interactions hosted by this scene. In addition, the researcher interviewed eight people from the scene to obtain greater insight into their lives and perceptions of the scene, drawing on Goffman’s and Collins’s theories about rituals.Findings:Three themes emerged. First, drug users bonded as a group and resisted what they called “normal people” passing by. Second, users demonstrated the importance of sharing drugs and services and adhering to the scene’s rules of conduct. The third and final theme is the focus of attention and the production of emotional energy.Conclusion:The experience of being outsiders and the need to hide some of their activities seemed to make it necessary for persons in the drug scene to have their own rules and rituals. These rules and rituals can be regarded as “interaction rituals”. They provide participants with the symbols of group membership, emotional energy, and group solidarity. This makes it hard to leave the scene and might explain why those who do often return.

Being ‘in place’, being ‘out of place’: Problematising marginalised drug users in two cities

Socially marginalised drug users when congregating in the public space on so-called 'open drug scenes' are often problematised, especially in post-industrial cities which increasingly are engaged in attempts to attract those that are considered to be promoters of economic activity through processes of 'beautification' and 'gentrification'. The different punitive practices that target homeless and marginalised drug users in the public space have been rendered visible in a range of influential accounts since the 1990s. However, these accounts have mostly been based on the US context and it has been argued that, in a European context, responses from local governments have been more variegated and ambivalent. Two case studies of the response to homeless and marginalised drug users in public space were investigated in the two major cities of Denmark, Aarhus and Copenhagen. In order to account for the differences in responses to marginalised drug users between the two cases, the different problematisations of their presence were investigated through document analysis and interviews with key stakeholders. The marginalised drug users were seen as 'out of place' in the open drug scene in Aarhus, while the marginalised drug users in the open drug scene in Copenhagen repeatedly were discursively constructed as being 'in place' and having a historical 'right' to be in this particular neighbourhood. The study illustrates that, by using the concept of 'problematisation', it is possible to reveal the assumptions about the proper use of the public space that underlies responses to the presence of marginalised drug users. Comparisons of such problematisations render us able to see how similar issues of marginalised drug users and the use of the public space can be problematised differently in different urban spaces and how this can legitimise specific governmental responses.

Moving into an urban drug scene among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada: Latent class growth analysis.

BackgroundUrban drug scenes are characterized by high prevalence of illicit drug dealing and use, violence and poverty, much of which is driven by the criminalization of people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) and the associated stigma. Despite significant public health needs, little is understood about patterns of moving into urban drug scenes among PWUD. Therefore, we sought to identify trajectories of residential mobility (hereafter ‘mobility’) among PWUD into the Downtown Eastside (DTES), an urban neighbourhood with an open drug scene in Vancouver, Canada, as well as characterize distinct trajectory groups among PWUD.MethodsData were derived from three prospective cohort studies of community-recruited PWUD in Vancouver between 2005 and 2016. We used latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to identify distinct patterns of moving into the DTES among participants residing outside of DTES at baseline. Multivariable multinomial logistic regression was used to determine baseline factors associated with each trajectory group.ResultsIn total, 906 eligible participants (30.9% females) provided 9,317 observations. The LCGA assigned four trajectories: consistently living outside of DTES (52.8%); early move into DTES (11.9%); gradual move into DTES (19.5%); and move in then out (15.8%). Younger PWUD, those of Indigenous ancestry, those who were homeless or living in a single-room occupancy hotel (SRO), and those injecting drugs daily were more likely to move in then out of DTES (all p<0.05). Living in an SRO, daily injection drug use, and recent incarceration were also positively associated with early mobility (all p<0.05).ConclusionsNearly half of the participants moved into the DTES. Younger PWUD and Indigenous peoples appeared to have particularly high mobility, as did those with markers of social-structural vulnerability and high intensity drug use. These findings indicate a need to tailor existing social and health services within the DTES and expand affordable housing options outside the DTES.

Longitudinal migration patterns from an open illicit drug scene among people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada

The objective of this study was to identify migration patterns from an open illicit drug scene (the Downtown Eastside [DTES] neighborhood) and describe factors associated with these migration patterns. Data were derived from three cohorts of people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Defined using latent class growth analysis, we identified four distinct migration trajectory groups: 1) consistently living in the DTES (47.8%); 2) early migration out, with a median time of migrating out of DTES of 5.3 months (21.5%); 3) late migration out, with a median time of migrating out of DTES of 38.0 months (20.1%); and 4) frequent revisit back-and-forth to DTES (10.6%). In a multivariable model, compared to the “consistently living in the DTES” group, factors associated with the “frequent revisit” group included being enrolled in non-pharmacological addiction treatment and having an HCV-positive serostatus. Factors associated with the “early migration out” group included being enrolled in detoxification or in other non-pharmacological addiction treatment, later calendar year, being on income assistance, living in a single room occupancy hotel, and having an HCV-positive serostatus. These findings point to the need for appropriate distribution of services in order to meet the needs of this population.

Harm reduction drug policy in Israel: what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done?

The leading formal drug policy in Israel is the traditional approach of abstinence, probation, and punitive measures based on three main pillars: Enforcement, Treatment and Rehabilitation, and Prevention. However, under the treatment pillar, Israel has adopted a number of harm reduction services, focused mostly on people who use heroin and people who inject drugs. These include Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Buprenorphine Maintenance Treatment, and Needle and Syringe Exchange Programs. More specialized services are designated mostly for people who use drugs, who frequent the largest open drug scene in Tel-Aviv. These include a health clinic, an emergency apartment for female addict sex-workers, and a ‘First Step’ center. Even so, the harm reduction approach has remained controversial, stigmatized, and is considered a sub-category for total-abstinence treatment in Israel. This paper follows the evolution of harm reduction interventions in Israel among people who use drugs and sheds light on the lack of a comprehensive, well-planned, formal national harm reduction drug policy. Additionally, this article expresses concern over the uncertain future of Israel’s comprehensive and balanced drug treatment policies caused by the structural changes in abolishing the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, the statutory authority and central body in Israel that promoted and coordinated all national policies related to treatment and harm reduction.ConclusionsAlthough it is a major challenge to translate worldwide evidence and research findings into action and social change, recommendations are offered to implement a comprehensive harm reduction drug policy led by a multidisciplinary group of policy-makers across all areas of drug policy. These focus on expanding and developing more services for Opioid Maintenance Therapy patients and people who inject drugs as well as a national effort to reduce high levels of stigma and discrimination against them, encompassing other common substances and focusing on populations such as adolescents and young adults that engage in other types of substance use such as cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens.

Drug-related community issues and the required interventions in open drug scenes in Tehran, Iran: a qualitative study protocol

Background and objectivesMany low-income and middle-income countries experience problems with open drug scenes and drug-related community issues (DRCIs). These experiences occur in settings with varying levels of health and law...

Harm Reduction Policing: From Drug Law Enforcement to Protection

Several drug policy researchers have noted that the concept of harm reduction could be applied to the field of drug policing in order to assess the negative consequences and potential benefits of policing in this area. However, the application of harm reduction principles to drug policing has only been realized to a limited extent in the current responses to drug use and markets. Accordingly, studies that empirically investigate already existing policing practices, which might be described as operating within such a harm reduction framework, are relatively scarce. In order to address this gap, this article provides an investigation of how policing of an open drug scene has been organized in Denmark since drug possession has been partly decriminalized, following the introduction of drug consumption rooms in Copenhagen. The policing of this open drug scene was investigated through document analysis, interviews, and observations with a patrolling police officer. The article argues that decriminalization has resulted in a shift in the “logics” of policing by enabling the production of an alternative “governable identity” for the drug-using subject, where people who use drugs could more readily be perceived as citizens with rights rather than just as offenders. Accordingly, in this new logic, the violence and victimization experienced by marginalized people who use drugs could more readily be identified as proper objects for police action. The study contributes to our knowledge of how the police can become potential allies rather than adversaries in harm reduction initiatives and broader public health concerns.