Brasília, June 18, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched the VI National Anti-drug Week today. During the ceremony, the President inaugurated the telephone service (0800) providing information about drugs.

Besides serving the population directly, the federal government is also involved in teacher training and drug use prevention in the workplace. President Lula announced courses for the Training of Public School Teachers and Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Use in the Workplace.

According to the World Health Organization, per capital consumption of alcoholic beverages in Brazil grew 154.8% between 1961 and 2000, making Brazil one of the 25 countries with the greatest increases in alcohol consumption in the world.

In the view of specialists from the National Anti-drugs Secretariat, intense consumption of alcohol can be even more harmful when associated with social problems like the ones faced by part of the Brazilian population, namely, unemployment, lack of schooling, and limited leisure opportunities. Consumption of alcoholic beverages is classified as one of the major risk factors in deaths, diseases, and injuries caused by accidents and violence.

A study conducted by the Brazilian Drug Information Center (Cebrid) shows that drug dependence affects users and family members. 47.6% of the population suffers the consequences of drug dependence.

Data released by the National Anti-drugs Secretariat indicate that 19.4% of the Brazilian population has used drugs. Alcohol and tobacco consumption is excluded from this percentage, which comes from a Cebrid study. According to the Cebrid, this percentage is 38.9% in the United States.

Marijuana is the most widely used drug. 6.9% of the people interviewed by the Cebrid in 2001 in the 107 largest Brazilian cities confessed to having consumed the drug. This percentage is 34.2% in the United States, 25% in the United Kingdom, 24.3% in Denmark, and 16.6% in Chile. Marijuana use in Brazil is greater than in Belgium (5.8%) and Colombia (5.4%). Heroine use was admitted by 0.1% of the respondents, ten times less than in the United States (1.2%).

Even in alcohol consumption, which rose 155% in the last 40 years, the national average (4.8 liters per capita, annually) is less than for the French (20.31 liters), English (9.9 liters), Argentineans (9.6 liters), Americans (9.1 liters), and Chileans (6 liters).

Translator: David Silberstein