Poor and black women are on the edge of super-exploitation in drug trafficking and are exposed to a series of violences, according to experts interviewed by Agência Brasil. In addition, repression of the sale of these substances by public security forces ends up unequally affecting the most vulnerable sections of the population. “Just as black women are the basis of the formal labor market, with the lowest salaries, with informal jobs, in terms of the international trafficking industry, this will not be different”, says the co-founder of the Black Initiative for a New Politics of Drugs, Nathália Oliveira. The approach to illegal trade itself occurs from precarious living conditions, points out researcher Luana Malheiro, author of the book Becoming a Woman Using Crack. “The issue of the market enters Brazil, Uruguay and the whole of Latin America, capturing those women who have no education, no access to the formal market, and who are heads of families, who are there raising their children alone. The only job that is more accessible for a woman with a child is the local drug market, which is growing more and more and always has a space”, explains the specialist who is part of the National Network of Anti-Prohibitionist Feminists (RENFA) and the Latino Network American and Caribbean Women Who Use Drugs. Cycle of violence Participating in a risky activity can, according to Luana Malheiro, aggravate these people’s situation. “Women entered the drug market to support the family, went through a series of acts of violence and ended up becoming abusive drug users to forget or deal with this violence”, she exemplifies. The researcher followed women crack users in Salvador and base paste consumers in Uruguay. When approaching these scenarios, she identified gender violence as a constant element. “Rape, sexual violence, is an issue that is much talked about. It has produced trauma, it has produced suffering. And drug use comes as this way of enduring these pains, these memories, these traumas that have not been worked on. Many of the women did not have access to health services”, details about some of the perceptions from field research. When seeking help, these women also find little support in public services, adds Luana. “Few health services focused on people who use drugs have specific spaces for women. And the services are always full of men, ”she says. These spaces no longer meet the specific needs of this population, according to the researcher. “These are services that do not have nursing rooms [para amamentação], who are not prepared to receive a mother who has a child. They end up producing a bunch of entry barriers,” she says. Denial of motherhood Drug consumption is even an argument used to distance mothers from their children, as pointed out by Nathália Oliveira. “Many women who are crack users when they have their children, in the hospital are discouraged from continuing with motherhood. Or many times the children already go through an adoption process.” She highlights that this happens not only with women in great vulnerability. According to her, in divorces, some partners make use of the allegation that the mother uses drugs in legal disputes for custody of the children. The prison system researcher, Dina Alves, assesses that punishments for trafficking affect black families and communities in an expanded way. “A mother cannot have contact with her child. So he is taken out of your custody, taken to someone in the family who can take care of him. Usually, he is another black woman – a grandmother or an aunt. Or when there is no other person in the family who can provide care, the child is taken to care centers or for adoption”, she lists. “Another prison population that serves time outside the prison system seen as a physical place. Because then there is another population that is punished, which are children”, emphasizes the researcher. Income generation The National Secretariat for Drug Policy Martha Machado makes a speech during the Launching of the National Strategy for Access to Rights for Women in Drug Policy-SENAD. – Photo: Isaac Amorim/MJSP To avoid exposing women to illegal networks, the Ministry of Justice’s National Drug Policy Secretariat (Senad) proposes actions to generate income and support communities. In March, the folder launched an announcement, which is open until April 21, to promote projects that support women who use drugs. R$ 6 million will be made available to strengthen groups and collectives across the country. “[Essas mulheres] are in a situation of vulnerability and end up being co-opted, enticed by drug trafficking, but that we could invest in these women, offer alternative work and income for these women, avoid involvement with trafficking”, emphasized the head of Senad, Martha Machado, in an interview with Agência Brasil. The secretary recognizes the extremely fragile situation to which women are subjected in illegal markets. “Within the drug trafficking chain, women also suffer a series of violence and oppression, they are used with mules. Sometimes victims of other crimes, both sexual violence and human trafficking. We would like to work to avoid this type of enticement”, she adds. Reparation and damage reduction Marta explains that Senad is being recomposed by the current government and is returning to coordinate, in dialogue with the Ministry of Health, not only the repressive aspects of drug policy, but also care and prevention of use. Within these possibilities, there are also harm reduction actions, which seek to mitigate the problems arising from the abusive consumption of substances, understanding that some people do not want or are unable to completely stop using them. “We support harm reduction and build policies together with the service network, together with civil society organizations”, she pointed out. Luana Malheiro argues that harm reduction should be understood in a broad way and take the lead in place of repressive actions. “When we defend a policy with harm reduction, with social justice, with reparation, it is by understanding that we can think of another presence of the State for these territories. So that the State can think about protection equipment, culture, leisure. Harm reduction works with this expanded idea. You need to take care of the subject within the community, with art, with culture, with different therapeutic resources”, she explains.
Agência Brasil
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