Prohibition and health care for drug users: Tensions and challenges to public policies

Abstract

The present work aims to promote discussion about the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs in our current society. It aims to reflect on the models and practices of attention to drug users, in the midst of public policies currently in vogue. The work starts by recognizing the presence of the use of psychoactive substances in different contexts and historical moments, to then discuss the use and abuse of drugs in our current society. Also, it emphasizes the model of psychosocial attention for drug users, in its relation with the prohibitionist culture and actions of drug repression and intolerance. Finally, the article concludes that the current public policies of attention to users, including the harm reduction logic, are on a collision and tensioning route with the still predominant prohibition and with the veiled and unassisted drug consumer culture.