School in times of malaise and drugs

The origins of this work lie in the existential concerns and professional experiences the author has had while teaching in the São Paulo public school system. Its central aim is to discuss the issue of educational prevention of drug use in the school environment. It seeks to do this by establishing the frameworks and socio-cultural dimensions intrinsic to the issue, which implies understanding the causal links between the phenomenon of drug use and broader social processes. The study thus sets out to point out assumptions for the foundation of a school project aimed at actions to prevent the use of narcotics. Secondly, it seeks to establish a dialogue with a school located in the metropolitan region of Greater São Paulo, in one of the city’s most violent areas, with a history of massacres, 'curfews' and wars between drug dealers, examining to what extent, and in what way, these assumptions are verified in the day-to-day pedagogical work of this school.