BRAZIL: Authorities in Brazil prepare to get tough on crack cocaine addicts, but experts warn that forced treatment is not the answer

Record ID: 644416

  • Title: BRAZIL: Authorities in Brazil prepare to get tough on crack cocaine addicts, but experts warn that forced treatment is not the answer
  • Date: 18th January 2013
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JANUARY 18, 2013) (REUTERS ) GENERAL VIEW OF CENTRAL RIO DE JANEIRO CLOSE OF BIG CLOCK IN THE CENTRE OF RIO DE JANEIRO CLOSE OF POSTER OF ADVERTISING RIO DE JANEIRO STATE DRUG POLICY CLOSE OF SIGN OF RIO DE JANEIRO'S SOCIAL SERVICES GENERAL VIEW OF OFFICE OF RIO DE JANEIRO'S SOCIAL SERVICES CLOSE OF PRESIDENT OF THE DRUG POLICY COUNCIL FOR RIO DE JANEIRO STATE, LEONARDO PECORARO COSTA, WORKING ON HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PRESIDENT OF THE DRUG COUNCIL FOR RIO DE JANEIRO STATE, SAYING: "We don't support the treatment, either compulsory or involuntary, as a model to be applied to all drug addicts. In specific cases, properly followed by health professionals, that can be an option, but it has to be part of a bigger plan."
  • Embargoed: 2nd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA9816U5A7VKO6KHVYOH0OMWIVF
  • Story Text: Rio de Janeiro city officials are considering passing a law which would make the compulsory treatment of crack cocaine users legal as the nation's infamous "cracklands" grow.
    In Sao Paulo, a similar law will go into effect from Monday (January 21).
    In Rio de Janeiro, crack users were driven out to outlying favelas after a 2008 initiative saw police take over the city's main shantytowns, or favelas, from the control of organized criminal factions.
    Now, in an effort to "clean-up" the city ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, officials are pushing for the compulsory treatment of crack-cocaine addicts living in the streets.
    Health officials, assisted by armed police, would go into the areas popular with crack cocaine users and try to talk them into getting treatment - or take them away forcibly if they resist.
    The measure is hugely polarizing.
    For Leonardo Pecoraro Costa, President of the Drug Policy Council in Rio de Janeiro state, the government should not look for a one size fits all solution.

    "We don't support the treatment, either compulsory or involuntary, as a model to be applied to all drug addicts. In specific cases, properly followed by health professionals, that can be an option, but it has to be part of a bigger plan," he said.
    This addict, who did not give his name, said during a police raid that it was his choice whether to get treatment or not.

    "I decide if want to go or not (to get treatment). I have gone many times," he said.
    But according to Silvia Tedesco, a Psychologist Professor at the Federal Fluminense University, in Rio de Janeiro, the country's politicians are trying to find a short-term solution for a very complex issue.

    "It doesn't work (compulsory treatment), what happens is that they will go into treatment for months, then they will come out and after a few months, sometimes even weeks, they will be back using it. The number of success stories is very small and insignificant to justify the use of compulsory treatment," she said.
    Tedesco would like to see the problem tackled from a public health perspective rather than from a public safety standpoint.

    "There is a public health system in place which needs to be reinforced. Let's set up more street clinics, more people in the streets working on mitigating the damages, lets set up more projects aimed at straightening emotional ties (between officials and drug users), and not projects that establishes a relationship (between officials and drug users) of violence," she said.
    Since March 2011, more than 5,000 crack-cocaine users have been taken off the streets of Rio de Janeiro by city authorities. Only 10 percent have accepted treatment.
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