Public policies in open scenes of crack use: The hotels in the De Braços Abertos programme as an experience of a consensual and participatory environment

Abstract

Abstract The Programa ‘De Braços Abertos’ (PBA) [Open Arms Programme] was planned and implemented by authorities of the city of São Paulo, between 2014 and 2016, and provided for the accommodation of its beneficiaries in hotels. We perceived a lack of specific research on the ways this programme was operated. Through an ethnography and the construction of close relationships with the teams of professionals working in these hotels, we were able to verify: (1) the constant attempts by the programme’s agents to develop bonds with the beneficiaries, (2) the skilful, attentive listening to the demands and daily stories lived by the beneficiaries, and (3) the problem-solving efforts in a consensual and participatory environment. In contrast to life on the streets, along with the professional intervention, the new context provided by PBA hotels has, in many cases, paved the way for changes in the drug users’ relationship with crack consumption to a more controlled pattern.

Keywords

• Crack cocaine
• Open Arms Programme
• ethnography
• hotels