title: [Fragments of the history of healthcare for users of alcohol and other drugs in Brazil: from Justice to Public Health].
abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify, factors that could be associated to the establishment of the country's health policy for users of alcohol and other drugs in 2003. It makes particular use of semi-structured interviews, as well as a study of the literature and documents. The article shows that the Brazilian State's approach to alcohol and drugs emerged in the early 20th century with the creation of a legal and institutional apparatus designed to control the sale and use of drugs, justified by the need to assure public security and public health. This apparatus permitted the development of healthcare practices for drug users based on the penalties it proposed. The article concludes that even though the rationales behind legal and public health measures do not always coincide, some of the practices that emerged in the legal sphere did help provide the conditions needed for the creation of a health policy for alcohol and drug users in Brazil in 2003.
authors.affiliation: Centro Mineiro de Toxicomania da Fundação, Hospital de Minas Gerais, Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil. ana.machado@fhemig.mg.gov.br
authors.forename: Ana Regina
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Paulo Sérgio Carneiro
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Miranda
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000266:history / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001938:Brazil; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006291:Health Policy / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000266:history* / Q000534:rehabilitation