Brazil News
RIO DE JANEIRO – The city of Rio de Janeiro will soon begin compulsory hospitalization of adult crack addicts, according to the newspaper “O Dia.” According to the report, the city will remand crack users to local hospitals and then to rehabilitation centers.
According to “O Dia,” the program is to begin in April. Other media outlets say that while the plan exits, the start date is not certain.
Across Brazil, crack addicts often gather in open-air “cracolândias,” or cracklands, to smoke the drug. The country suffers an epidemic of crack use reminiscent of the U.S in the 1990s. The government estimates that Brazilians smoke over one metric ton of crack per day.
Dr. Luis Fernando Correia, health reporter for RJTV says that the initial idea is to have a triage screening at the local hospitals and then assign the addicts to prolonged treatment facilities.
The project is a partnership of the Department of Social Development and the municipal Health Department, coördinated by the City of Rio de Janeiro.
