The void of public health policies for women who use alcohol and other drugs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/ce.v31i0.101917ptKeywords:
Public Policy, Capitalism, Gender-Specific Needs, Women, Drug UsersAbstract
Objective: To reflect critically, from the Marxist perspective of totality, on how the inherent contradictions of social relations in the capitalist mode of production manifest in the scarcity and inadequacy of public policies aimed at women who use alcohol and other drugs.
Development: From the critical Marxist approach to the State and public policies, considering that these have their formulation process arising from society itself, the fragility of care in the context of alcohol and other drug consumption by women may seem justified in the capitalist scenario. Negligence cannot be understood merely as an administrative failure, but as a systematic exclusion that reveals the priorities of the State as a form of social organization.
Final considerations: Understanding this logic is fundamental to highlighting the urgency of approaches that include women who use alcohol and other drugs and question the structural foundations of their exclusion.
References
1. World Health Organization (WHO). Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders 2024. Geneva: World Health Organization [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2025 Jul 22]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240096745
2. Page S, McCormack F, Oldfield S, Whitehead S, Jeffery H. Raising a public health concern: women overlooked in UK drug policy and disadvantaged in mixed-gender community services. Int J Environ Res Public Health [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 Jul 23];22(10):1584. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22101584
3. Arpa S. Women who use drugs: issues, needs, responses, challenges and implications for policy and practice. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2025 Jul 23]. 22 p. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/28072/
4. Antelo VS, Straw CI, Jeifetz VJ, Saavedra JV, Nóbrega MPSS. Twenty-four years of research on women’s drug use in latin america: a scoping review (2000-2024). Subst Use Addict J [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 Oct 29];47(1):249-70. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/29767342251347368
5. Tenorio GA. Ética y política en Karl Marx. México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco; 2021. 196 p.
6. Bonnet A, Huwiler LA. Estado e políticas públicas sob uma perspectiva crítica. J Manag Prim Health Care [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2025 May 19];12:e13. Available from: https://www.jmphc.com.br/jmphc/article/view/981
7. Alves TM. Classe, raça e gênero na Reforma Psiquiátrica: particularidades da formação social brasileira. Em Pauta: teoria social e realidade contemporânea [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2026 Mar 30];23(59):173-87. Available from: https://doi.org/10.12957/rep.2025.91752
8. Federici S. Calibã e a Bruxa: mulheres, corpo e acumulação primitiva. São Paulo: Elefante; 2023. 480 p.
9. da Costa PHA, Ronzani TM, Colugnati FAB. No papel é bonito, mas na prática… análise sobre a rede de atenção aos usuários de drogas nas políticas e instrumentos normativos da área. Saude Soc [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2025 Jun 30];26(3):73850. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902017170188
10. Ribeiro KG, de Andrade LOM, Barreto ICHC, Raquel SP, Munoz TL, Santos C. Determinantes Sociais da Saúde dentro e fora de casa: captura de uma nova abordagem. Saúde Debate [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2025 Aug 08];48(140):e8590. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1590/2358-289820241408590P
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mariana Coronato Fernandes, Maria do Perpétuo Socorro de Sousa Nóbrega, Victoria Sánchez Antelo

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Cogitare Enfermagem reserves the right to make normative, orthographic, and grammatical changes to the published article to maintain the cultured standard of the language, while respecting the authors' style.
The published study is the sole responsibility of the author(s), and Cogitare Enfermagem is exclusively responsible for evaluating the manuscript as a scientific publication vehicle. Revista Cogitare Enfermagem is not responsible for any violations of Law No. 9,610/1998, the Brazilian Copyright Law.
Cogitare Enfermagem allows the author to hold the copyright of articles accepted for publication, without restrictions.
The articles published are licensed under the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0 - The attribution adopted by Cogitare Enfermagem is permitted:
- Share - copy and redistribute the material in any media or format.
- Adapt - remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- Attribution - You must give proper credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made. You may do this in any reasonable way, but not in a way that suggests that the licensor endorses it or approves of its use.
- No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing something that the license allows.





















