Low-income families' perceptions on the use of drugs by one of their members

Families who are socially excluded are vulnerable to problems related to the use of psychoactive substances. This study aimed to identify the perception regarding drugs use among families that lived in extreme poverty and participated in a social-educational group in the suburbs of a city in the interior of Sao Paulo State. A survey-like quantitative study was conducted involving 70 members of families who participated in the social-educational groups of the Program for Integral Assistance to the Family. Results indicated that 67 (95.7%) OF the subjects were married, at an average age of 37, most of them had not completed grade school, and were unemployed. Fifty five (78.6%) had a family member who used alcohol, fifty two (74,3%) smoked, and twenty three (32.9%) used some kind of illicit drug. The results also showed that living with a relative who was a drug user was perceived as problem that elicited feelings resentment, but also conformism on the part of other family members.