Study Reveals São Paulo Hosts 72 Cracolândias Across the City, Not Just in the Center

When we talk about public safety, it is impossible not to mention Cracolândia, a central region of the city of São Paulo. Just to give you an idea, in the first half of 2024 alone, according to data from the drug use monitoring panel maintained by the Municipal Department of Urban Security (SMSU), on average more than 400 people circulated through the crowded areas at each time of day. São Paulo is on the same path as Cracolândia: drug users, drug dealers, vagrants, pickpockets, purse snatchers, and cell phone snatchers, all mixed together.  

Managing the flow of people in this region is not easy, which is why it is a major challenge for the city government of the country’s main capital. Criminologist Maurício Stegemann Dieter, a professor of Criminal Law at the Law School of the University of São Paulo and a specialist in political and criminal repression, believes that the region involves more than just the city’s geography, but also people with different perspectives. 

Compulsory hospitalization is an extremely serious measure of deprivation of liberty and should only be used under the pretext of restoring freedom and not for health treatment, the only justification being ultimate alienation. The academic cites a passage from psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who says that forced labor is slavery and forced sex is rape, which also applies to forced treatment, which is not necessarily treatment. 

Migration

The operations are criticized by social movements. Activists accuse the security forces of acting violently against drug users, spreading them throughout the city. Cracolândia was located for many years on Rua Helvétia. Police actions in the area, however, caused users to migrate to Praça Princesa Isabel several times. In 2017, however, after an operation by the security forces, the users were removed from the area and ended up spreading throughout the city center. Currently, they are more concentrated at the intersection of Rua Conselheiro Nébias and Rua dos Gusmões. 

The Open Arms program was the most effective, because it presented a proposal that included the pillars of housing policy, health and professional occupation. 

Psychiatrist Arthur Guerra, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo’s School of Medicine and a specialist in alcohol and drugs, explains that the action in Cracolândia should be taken by the State and not by the government every four years. Guerra was the coordinator of actions in the region and says that there are policies to combat the problem, but the issue goes far beyond drug use.  

Since 1990, around 20 public administrations have made attempts to resolve the issue, but none have been successful. Currently, the city of São Paulo has 72 Cracolândias and not just one in the city center, according to the Municipal Department of Urban Security.