The aim of this article was to analyze social representations about crack circulated by newspapers in Pernambuco. The study is characterized as a documentary research, based on the analysis of 283 articles published by two widely circulated newspapers in Recife from January 200 to Abril 2008. Data were analyzed using the Alceste software program and content analysis. The results demonstrated that the information circulated about crack, on one hand described it as a drug related to the subject's strong anguish and weakness, and on the other, as part of drug trafficking, relating it to crime. These representations should therefore be observed as they may be associated with social discourses and practices that place drug users as subjects lacking the capacity to evaluate their own condition and relationship with the drug, and one could lapse into paternalistic and or violent practices towards the users.
Crack; Public policy; Social representation; Violence
