A Brief Photo-biography of Crack Users From Rio de Janeiro's Metropolitan Area: Their Settings and Tools¹

Abstract

This brief report presents and comments pictures taken during fieldwork carried out in drug scenes, located in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as part of the National Crack Cocaine Survey, 2011–2013. The pictures depict contrasting settings where the ethnographic and epidemiologic components took place, as well as tools and devices used for smoking crack cocaine. As can be easily visualized, settings and tools tend to be quite variable, frequently beyond/in opposition to stereotypes.

Keywords: :

• Crack cocaine
• Rio de Janeiro
• Brazil
• Ethnography
• Cultural diversity

THE AUTHORS

Claudio Gruber Mann, RN, MS in Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health Specialization at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Gender and Sexuality at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Many years of research experience on mental health, sexuality and prevention and STD/AIDS interventions. Member of the study team conducted by FIOCRUZ “National Research on crack use”, working as a Rio de Janeiro team supervisor and an interviewer, photographically documenting visits to the scenes of crack use. Currently, Mann is a PhD student in Public Health at FIOCRUZ and coordinates the research team in Brazil of the Project “Brazilian Prevention of HIV/STD in adolescents with Mental Disorders –STYLE B” in partnership with UFRJ, ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association) and Columbia University-NYC, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Francisco I. Bastos, is a Senior Researcher, physician, and former Chair of Graduate Studies in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), with years of experience researching substance misuse and associated harms and risks, such as HIV, viral hepatitis, and other STIs and blood-borne diseases. I have been the Principal Investigator on a number of large, multicity studies on HIV and other blood-borne infections and STIs, including the WHO Multicity Project on HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis among injection drug users, the multicity study of HIV and syphilis in 10 Brazilian cities, and the recently concluded national survey on crack cocaine and associated harms. My research team has developed new methods for assessing the needs and vulnerabilities of impoverished and marginalized populations.