Política de drogas e Saúde Coletiva: diálogos necessários

Abstract

The current status of policies on illicit drugs has implications for Collective Health that need to be discussed in depth. This essay aims to explore, in light of the best evidence, the public health impact of drug policies focused on the criminalization of growing, selling, and consuming psychoactive substances. Brazil provides the context for the main analysis. The principal points addressed in this work include drugs as a social issue and the definition of the prohibitionist paradigm, evidence of the unhealthy relationship between this paradigm and the population's health, the issue of a model of care for users of psychoactive substances focused on therapeutic communities, and future paths to be explored to overcome the prohibition of illicit drugs as the principal approach to the issue. Among the main problematic elements in the repressive approach in the Brazilian context, the study highlights violence and homicides, the health impacts of incarceration and blocked access to the health system, and potential new therapies derived from currently banned psychoactive substances. As proposals for future policy changes, the study highlights decriminalization of the use, possession, and small-scale sale of drugs; the reduction of the violence and discrimination associated with policing; focus on harm reduction policies; approach to gender-related specificities; and inclusion of social variables as metrics for successful treatment of problematic drug use. In conclusion, it is relevant that the social issue and drug policy have become the object of more studies in the field of Collective Health.

Evaluation of Harm Reduction Strategies in the Psychosocial Care Network

“…[17][18] In view of the setbacks that are occurring in mental health policies at the national level, it is necessary to strengthen care strategies in community services that can combat any type of violation of the rights of users of alcohol and other drugs. 19 To guide such actions, the National Council of Human Rights (CNDH), through Resolution No.8, rejects the asylum and community treatment model, and reaffirms the principles and guidelines for a national mental health policy that promotes human rights. 20 This political direction of the CNDH reaffirms the need to promote care practices that value dignity, freedom, autonomy, social experience and inclusion in community services, in which abstinence is not the only form of treatment.…”

Compreensões de estudantes e professores de uma escola pública de ensino fundamental sobre uso de crack na adolescência

“…surgimento de novas drogas, em especial o crack, tem sido alvo de estudos pelo Brasil e pelo mundo. Tal fato provoca questionamentos quanto aos desfechos secundários inerentes aos usuários, à eficiência das políticas públicas para lidar com o assunto e à abordagem tradicional do proibicionismo, sobretudo para o público adolescente 1 .…”

O apoio matricial na rede de atenção às pessoas com necessidades decorrentes do uso de álcool e outras drogas

“…It is important to emphasize that in the political moment we are experiencing, the Federal Government is also moving towards absenteeism models, with the strengthening of three main forces: biomedical psychiatrization through hospitalizations, the judicialization of care through security forces and the moralization of treatments through the strengthening of Therapeutic Communities (mostly religious) (Gomes-Medeiros et al, 2019).…”