Brasília - Around 100 journalists and specialists from all over the country are attending a meeting which ends today in Brasília to discuss the media's perspective on drugs and drug users. The Media and Drugs Seminar, organized by the Childrens' Rights News Agency (ANDI), in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, is intended to stimulate self-awareness among media professionals on the drug theme.

A recent unpublished study by the ANDI analyzed stories from 49 Brazilian newspapers on the topic of drugs. One of the conclusions is that drug users are stigmatized by the media and drugs are always associated with an increase in violence.

For Alba Daluar, an anthropologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the association between drugs and violence is not always accurate. According to her, violence is a systemic problem involving various other issues, and neither drugs nor drug users can be cast in the same light.

Senator Jefferson Peres (PDT-AM), who favors the legalization of drugs, questioned the absence of debates in the media on this matter. He argues that legalizing drug use would be more beneficial than prohibiting it.

The Senator said that he won't present a bill for the legalization of drugs until an international convention on this theme is orchestrated, lest Brazil legalize drugs on its own and become a supplier for the international drug traffic.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Irene Lôbo
Translator: David Silberstein
08/17/2004