ROMANINI, Moises    ROSO, Adriane. Mediatization of culture, criminalization and pathologization of crack cocaine users: discourses and policies. []. , 21, 2, pp.483-497. ISSN 1413-389X.  https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2013.2-14.

In Brazil, several studies have been showing that, in the media, the drugs are linked to the legal / police and medical / psychiatric fields, and its use, invariably, leads to criminality. Considering that, this article aims to analyze the policies directed to the drug using/drug user in Brazil, highlighting two prevalent ideas: the legal/ institutional and the one related to health. With the support of Critical Social Psychology and Depth Hermeneutics, we discuss how these policies affect their daily lives and how they reflect the historical phenomenon of the "War on Drugs". To gather information, we used different strategies: participant observation, field diary and focus groups. The media, especially television, conveys symbolic forms on the crack cocaine that produce an effect of individuation. This effect turns out to establish and/or maintain the ideology that constructs the drug user either as a delinquent or as a sick person. In both cases, the public policies head to punishment, either through imprisonment, sometimes through hospitalization.

: Communications media; public policies; drugs; social psychology.

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