RESUMO. Concorda-se que conseqüências da manufatura, síntese, tráfico e uso de drogas resultem em ameaça ao bem-estar coletivo. Todavia, o Estado dispõe de políticas públicas que só simbolicamente previnem a materialização dessa ameaça. É possível identificar duas políticas públicas com vistas a atenuar problemas derivados do uso de drogas. A primeira fundamenta suas ações sobre os princípios do estatuto punitivo brasileiro, perpetuando uma afronta ao princípio da lesividade, já que constitucionalmente a autolesão não tipifica conduta criminosa. A segunda ampara-se sobre uma abordagem de descriminalização, mas patologiza o usuário. O objeto de ação das duas políticas é a conduta ou o usuário e ambas se fundamentam sobre o viés filosófico da retributividade ou da máxima de que punição resulta em educação; tratando-o como criminoso ou como doente, as conseqüências dessas políticas resultam em robustez da economia da droga e iatrogenia do mal a ser tratado.Palavras-chave: políticas públicas, economia da droga, criminalização.ABSTRACT. If the welfare state is threatened either by synthesis, manufacture, traffic or drugs use, it is expected that State formulates public policies to prevent injuries to the common good In layman terms, activities related to the use abusive of drugs are able to threaten that common good. So, public policies should prevent the materialization of such threat. Two sorts of public policies intending to attenuate the social problems raised by drug abuse can be identified. The first is supported by a punitive philosophy which approaches the problem by criminating the drug user. By using penal rights, it does force users to face the consequences of the law, such as prison. The second seeks protection in a de-criminalization approach, but pathologizes the user. The object of action of the two politics is the conduct or the user, and both are based in the philosophical belief of compensation or in the rule of conduct that punishment results in education. Be the user treated as a criminal or as a sick individual, the consequences of those politics result in increase of the drug economy and iatrogenicity of the illness to be treated.

The learned helplessness (LH) paradigm is characterized by learning deficits resulting from inescapable events. The aims of the present study were to determine if protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) alters learning deficits induced by LH and if the neurochemical changes induced by malnutrition alter the reactivity to treatment with GABA-ergic and serotonergic drugs during LH. Well-nourished (W) and PCM Wistar rats (61 days old) were exposed or not to inescapable shocks (IS) and treated with gepirone (GEP, 0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) or chlordiazepoxide (0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) 72 h later, 30 min before the test session (30 trials of escape learning). The results showed that rats exposed to IS had higher escape latency than non-exposed rats (12.6 ± 2.2 vs 4.4 ± 0.8 s) and that malnutrition increased learning impairment produced by LH. GEP increased the escape latency of W animals exposed or non-exposed to IS, but did not affect the response of PCM animals, while chlordiazepoxide reduced the escape deficit of both W and PCM rats. The data suggest that PCM animals were more sensitive to the impairment produced by LH and that PCM led to neurochemical changes in the serotonergic system, resulting in hyporeactivity to the anxiogenic effects of GEP in the LH paradigm.

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