VULNERABILITY OF FEMALE DRUGS USERS: A STUDY WITH WOMEN IN PRISON SITUATION

Abstract

Introduction: The female engagement with drugs occurs of many ways. Most women still occupy an adjunct position in this type of crime, but whatever the form of participation, is an element of vulnerability for these women. Objective: The present article aims to describe vulnerability elements in the involvement of women with drugs. Methodology: This was a qualitative research, developed with eleven women from a women’s prison in Salvador-BA, who have been serving sentences related to the drugs phenomenon. The story-theme drawings, as well as the semi structured interview techniques were used in order to collect data, whose content was analyzed through thematic content analysis, as guided by the principles of the Social Representations Theory. Results: To the women interviewed, the influence of a partner and friends, financial difficulties and the search for visibility and power were indicated as vulnerability elements related to their involvement with drugs. Conclusion: the results found by women in prison situation reflect the woman’s condition in a context of inequalities and search for visibility, in which drugs consumption and participation in drug dealing are presented as strategies of confrontation. These strategies, nevertheless, cause, among other aspects, suffering to the women themselves and to their families.