Decriminalization of Drugs: An Alternative to Decrease Brazilian Violence

In Brazil, the issue of violence can be thought by two dimensions of significant proportions, drug trafficking and use and weapon trafficking and licensing. The increase of these activities, due to the involved content of violence, cruelty, and transformation of evil into a routine, is amongst the phenomena that multiply fear and the feeling of insecurity with which some Brazilian cities live currently. The backdrop of the following reflections is the Federal District, used as an example of some of the issues to be addressed. The figures involving drug possession, use, and trafficking in the Federal District have been increasing significantly, be it considering the perpetrators or the crimes, and these data are strictly related to the increase in violence in the region;its roots are multiple and complex making it impossible to explain through linear causal relations. One argument that we would like to focus here considers that if the decriminalization of drugs occurred and a countless amount of activities that currently took place in the underworld of invisibility, within the logic of terror, fear, accusation, and inhumanity were introduced into the market and regulated competition, the current violence indexes could decrease. The ones who are in favor of this argument are also willing to admit the difficulties to evidence it due to precarious amounts of information and data available, as a consequence of the illegal characteristic of the activities involved. Summing up, it can be said that the data presented and the arguments derived from these data give empirical and theoretical support to the argument in favor of broadening the knowledge and the debate about the possibility, the effects and the consequences of bringing, in a still undefined future, activities involving drug use and trafficking into legality.

The HIV Infection: Clarification of Its Legal Classification of Transmission and Measures to Protect Societies from Burdening Caused by Social and Medical Care Services for the Coming Decades

This article addresses issues regarding the transmission of HIV;without the combination antiretroviral treatment (cART), HIV causes a fatal outcome of those infected in most cases. First, legal issues: For years, controversial discussions have dealt with the subject of the legal classification of HIV infection, such as “… criminalization of HIV exposure might limit access to and uptake of HIV prevention services…” Based on the rule of law of a constitutional state, we explain the legal principles that serve to protect the legal rights of its citizens. The state has to protect its citizens from harm by other people. The prosecution and conviction of a specific person for a proven HIV infection are legal. Therefore, general decriminalization of HIV infection would undermine the right of thereby harmed citizens to compensation. Second, HIV prevention strategies: Based on the Test and Treatment Strategy (TASP)1, controlled studies were undertaken to find out which framework conditions could improve their benefit. We outline concepts that can help to curb the still ongoing spread of HIV: By providing early HIV diagnosis and ongoing HIV care services as part of updated education and prevention campaigns. Also, concerted, comprehensive campaigns are required to demonstrate further impacts of HIV infection: Both on the quality of life of infected individuals due to the development of non-communicable diseases and the increasing burden to societies as a whole.