Viva Rio launches "Drugs and culture: new perspectives"

On 24th June, Viva Rio launched “Drugs and culture: new perspectives”, a publication by the Ministry of Culture, the Federal University of Bahia and other important research institutions. Its authors are some of the most experienced researchers about drug uses and legislation in Brazil. Its 17 essays cover diverse aspects related to drugs, from the history of drug uses in the West to the consumption of drugs as a cultural phenomenon, through different approaches: ayahuasca and its relations with the sacred to legal drugs, synthetic drugs and electronic music, harm caused by prohibition, coca leaf, etc. The book treats drug use as a social construct, which meaning changes according to cultural contexts.

The presentation of the book was followed by a debate with young police and health agents acting in the favelas in order to gather creative suggestions to deal with the problems generated by the war on drugs. Suggestions were made to bring the debate to the favelas, where the effects of drug prohibition in terms of violence were most felt. The representative of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture committed himself to hold a similar debate and present the book along with Viva Rio in one of the favelas where family and social programmes are being implemented.