Abstract
This research aimed to analyse how homeless people experience drug use and the intertwining between it and their cultural environment and life style. An etnographic study has been conducted which identified the macrosocial structures through the National Movement of the Homeless (Movimento Nacional da População de Rua) monitoring and the microsocial ones by means of its interlocutors’ individual trajectories. Data were collected upon participant observation, registered in a research field journal and in semi-structured interviews. The analysis was carried out by data generation synthesis over the whole working process. Results reveal a street culture in which drug builds a collective life style that sets relationships and identities which withstand stigmas. Life stories unveil social suffering and exclusion besides non-adaptation to society conventional and formal aspects. Therefore, homeless people have their own social organisation that helps them to endure the difficulties in being accepted by society as well as the inadequacy of the social services that should assist them. Drug is part of this culture as a way of living and it needs to be understood and worked with by health professionals through a conscious and open approach.
Keywords
Homeless people; Drug users; Mental health; Anthropology