Coping with crack consumption

Abstract

This editorial discusses coping with crack and other drug consumption. In Brazil and in Latin American countries, since the end of the 1980's, information about crack consumption has been published and has recently resulted in the adoption of strategic measures by some governments and institutions, aiming to cope with and prevent its use. The implications of crack use represent an important problem for public health policies, for teaching and research about the clinical practice of health care professionals and particularly for nursing professionals, who are the most numerous categories in the health team. In Brazil, in 2010, the Ministry of Health established the Integrated Plan for Coping with Crack and Other Drugs, aiming for usage prevention, treatment and social reinsertion of users and professional training, departing from the premise that crack users are entitled to health and to reestablishing their life project. The plan proposes the structuring, expansion and strengthening of healthcare and social service networks for users of crack and other drugs, through the articulation between the Unified Health System (SUS) actions and those of the Unified Social Service System (SUAS), involving the participation of family members and attention to vulnerable publics, including children, adolescents and street populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).