Experiences and Representations about Crack: An Approach to Female Drug-Users

Abstract This research aimed at knowing and evaluating crack-related social representations as elaborated by under-treatment drug-addicts, using the Theory of Social Representations. 45 crack-users on an internship program in Therapy Communities and Rehabilitation Centers in the States of PB and PE participated in the referred study. As instruments for this approach, a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used. The data was analyzed by the Alceste software. Outcomes showed that crack is represented as a devastating and disaggregating element that leads to the abandonment and digression of female functions. It was also highlighted that the figure of the female user is accounted as a major moral-order problem, resulting in a depreciative representation. These constructions, as being individual and social at the same time, lead to a great influence over how society sees the female drug-addict, strengthening social barriers which make it difficult to achieve treatment, and the recovery of the user.