The construction of crack cocaine in Paris as an epidemiological, care, and urban ecology “problem”

In France, the issue of crack cocaine is framed as a public problem, most often described in terms of a double dichotomy: public safety versus public health. In this article, we propose to analyze the extent to which this framing is more complex than the simple distinction between the security and health dimensions. We also aim to highlight the diversity of the actors involved and their mobilization to address the issue of crack cocaine as a public problem. We show how this issue is the subject of multiple framings involving epidemiological, care, and urban ecology perspectives, permeated by public health and public safety logics.