title: Paradigms of public policies for licit and illicit drugs in Brazil.
abstract: Brazil is a country of continental dimensions that, over the last 3 decades, has been making increased efforts to develop effective public policies for controlling the use of both licit and illicit psychoactive substances. In the case of licit drugs, Brazil was a pioneer in following the guidance of the World Health Organization for tobacco control and has witnessed surprising results relating to reduction of smoking prevalence and correlated morbidity and mortality. Today, Brazil has a national structure for organizing, applying, and monitoring laws relating to tobacco. However, in the field of illicit drugs, with crack consumption as a paradigm, the situation is the opposite: its use has been increasing year by year and is being consumed at increasingly young ages and by all social classes. Thus, it is becoming an enormous challenge for public policies relating to prevention and treatment. In this context, the aim of this article is to present a review of the epidemiological data relating to tobacco and crack use in Brazil, with an analysis on the impact of public policies for controlling consumption over recent years. Despite the efforts made over the last 3 decades, Brazil still has a long way to go in order to construct a consistent and effective national drugs policy.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Chemical Dependency Unit , Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brazil.
authors.forename: Analice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gigliotti
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Amarílis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tapia Aguilera
authors.forename: Elton
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rezende
authors.forename: Luciane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ogata Perrenoud
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016578:Crack Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015995:Prevalence; D011640:Public Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention
chemical_list: D016578:Crack Cocaine; D013287:Illicit Drugs
keywords: Brazil; crack; public policy; tobacco