Benedito Mendonça
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The government is closer to the ideal of treating youthful drug offenders as individuals who deserve medical care, social inclusion policies, and assurances that socio-educational measures will be applied in an effective manner. This affirmation was made today in Brasília by the deputy secretary of Human Rights, Mário Mamede, at the opening of the seminar, "Adolescents at Odds with the Law and Drugs."

Mamede explained that the Brazilian government's socio-educational measures are not punitive but aimed at socialization and socio-familial integration. In his opinion, it is important for adolescents to receive integral assistance and assurances of their basic rights as citizens.

The purpose of the seminar, which is sponsored by the Presidential Special Secretariat of Human Rights, is to stimulate the exchange of successful experiences among the various entities engaged in the prevention and treatment of youthful drug offenders, as well as to search for viable alternative solutions to the problem.

According to Father Manuel Antônio Parra Del Gadilho, director of the Amigoniano Socio-Educational Center of Brasília (Cesami), in the majority of cases the legal violation is associated with drug consumption. In his view, the solution to the problem of adolescent drug use and violence lies in education, prevention, and working with addicts to promote their rehabilitation.

Among the most popular drugs in Brazil, marijuana is first (67.1%), followed by alcohol, crack, and inhalants, such as rubber cement.

At the seminar, professionals who deal directly with adolescents at odds with the law, technical staffers of socio-educational programs, state and municipal administrators, magistrates, attorneys, and defenders of the rights of the rights of children and adolescents are discussing the problem of youthful offenders, the qualification of treatment for this specific group, and the training of professionals who deal with adolescents at odds with the law.

Translation: David Silberstein