BRAZIL: Popular Soap Opera Provides Lessons on Drug Abuse

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 25 2002 (IPS) - A popular Brazilian soap opera, “The Clone”, is reaching virtually the entire population of South America’s giant with strong, graphic messages against drug abuse.

But that is just one of the controversial issues raised by the programme, which also addresses the question of human cloning and the clash of Islam and Brazilian culture.

The programme’s treatment of the issue of drug abuse has been praised by institutions like the Brazilian Association on Alcoholism and Drugs, which paid homage to screenwriter Gloria Pérez in an Apr 20 seminar on drug addiction held in Rio de Janeiro.

The Anti-Drug Council of the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro even awarded the soap opera – which began to be aired in October by Red Globo, Brazil’s leading television network – a prize for addressing the issue in a manner that has had a strong impact on the audience.

The programme includes real testimony from people who talk about their experiences with drugs and their efforts to overcome their addictions, parallel to the storyline, in which two young drug addicts drive their families to despair by quitting their jobs, abandoning their studies, stealing, and fighting with their parents.

However, the praise for the soap opera’s approach to the issue is not unanimous. “Although the programme has the merit of drawing broad attention to the question, it reproduces stereotypes, like putting an emphasis on illegal drugs,” psychiatrist Dartiú Xavier da Silveira, the coordinator of the Sao Paulo School of Medicine’s Programme of Orientation and Attention for Addicts, told IPS.

As a result, he said, the programme fosters tolerance of legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, which are actually much more serious public health problems.

The soap opera also conveys the impression that marijuana is a “gateway drug” to cocaine use, a theory that “has not been proven,” said da Silveira. Furthermore, the cases portrayed are exaggerated and overblown, due to the requirements of drama, and show extremes with which “most addicts do not identify,” he added.

Nevertheless, the programme has had a positive impact, according to the police. Since “The Clone” began to be aired, calls to a special police hot-line on drug trafficking have increased in Marilia, a city of around 200,000 located 450 kms from Sao Paulo, a local federal police agent told IPS.

The National Association of Federal Police Officials in Marilia not only has a hot-line, but also a web site (http://www.antidrogas.com.br) providing information on drug abuse prevention.

Cocaine consumption has risen in recent years in the city, which is located on the trafficking route running from Bolivia and Paraguay to southern Brazil, and especially Sao Paulo, the country’s biggest city and biggest market for drugs, said the agent, who asked to remain anonymous.

That trend has been fuelled by a drop in the price of cocaine, which many marijuana smokers have begun to use, he explained.

The approach to the question by screenwriter Gloria Pérez “is very interesting,” said the police officer, as it shows the behaviour of drug abusers “in a realistic manner, without fantasies,” as well as the harm they suffer and inflict on those close to them.

Moreover, he added, messages and information disseminated by a soap opera are more powerful than a campaign carried out through other means, because they reach the entire population.

The central focus of the programme is the cloning of a human being and the ethical, affective and legal issues that raises. The identities of the father and the mother and the rights of the cloned human being are questions for which the soap opera will attempt to come up with answers over the next weeks.

“The Clone” is further spiced up by clashes between Islam and the Brazilian culture, with many of the characters travelling between Rio de Janeiro and Morocco.

But the programme, which already enjoyed high ratings, saw its popularity soar last month with the heightening of the drama surrounding the question of drug use.

The soap opera suggests that the causes of the drug addictions of the two young protagonists are problems they face in their affluent families, such as the separation of their parents and the rejection of and conspiracy against the girlfriend of one of them, who comes from a family of modest means.

The programme also clearly portrays the situation in which a specific person – in this case a common friend – can have a strong influence, drawing youngsters into using drugs. The insistence of the character, a young woman, contributes to the relapses of a young lawyer who is determined to kick the cocaine habit.

Another character, Lobato – an alcoholic veteran lawyer, and ex- cocaine addict – teaches the characters and the audience that drugs are a risky business, because they cause addiction in some cases but not in others, and no one can be sure ahead of time what will happen in their case.

Addicts will do “anything” to get their daily fix, which is as necessary to them as food or oxygen, according to the lawyer, who is a kind of counsellor in the soap opera but also serves as an example that former drug abusers will always suffer discrimination as the targets of mistrust and pity, even from their closest friends.