FACILITY

The result of three years of research and intervention along with scenes of drug use located in Flávia Farnese and Avenida Brasil, Redes da Maré inaugurated, in May 2018, the first reference space on drugs and mental health in a slum territory. The main objective is to guide a positive agenda on harm reduction practices and care policies for people who use crack, alcohol and other drugs, based on the coexistence and articulation of a wide care network in the territory, stimulating the creation of bonds, dialogues, reception, promotion of self- care and socio-legal follow-up.

THE NORMAL SPACE ARTICULATES FIVE ACTION FRONTS:

(1)

Creation of alternatives for people with harmful drug use and family members;

(2)

Institutional and territorial articulation to build a local harm reduction agenda;

(3)

Raising awareness and producing knowledge about harm reduction practices in contexts of violence;

(4)

Promotion of self-care and support in mental health, reception and socio-legal follow-up;

(5)

Creation and renewal of bonds with family, friends and the territory.

WHY IS THE SPACE CALLED NORMAL?

Carlos Roberto Nogueira, also known as “Normal”, was a local leader of the drug use scene on Flávia Farnese St, in Maré. Since the beginning of the Redes project in the area, in 2015, Normal has helped the team to build links with the scene and consolidate its work in that space. Charismatic, talented and extroverted, Normal was a concrete example of the complexities, desires and powers that cross the trajectories of people living on the streets.

In January 2018, while the space was being prepared to be inaugurated, Normal died from a stray bullet at Flávia Farnese St. He was 32 years old.

The name Normal Space was given, then, as a tribute to Carlos and all the people who, like him, had and still have their lives marked by the violence produced by the war on drugs. The name Normal also intends to claim new perspectives on people who use drugs and/or who are homeless, serving as a constant reminder of the right to be “different” combined with the desire of people who are systematically stigmatized by society to be seen as "normal”.

THE NORMAL SPACE DURING THE PANDEMIC

In 2020, as happened to all sectors of society, the pandemic affected the Normal Space. To begin with, it was no longer possible to serve our public in the Space, to reduce the risks of contagion. This set up a great risk of breaking ties with people living on the streets or in drug use scenes close to Maré. To get around the problem, our team went into the field to maintain and expand reception, promoting self-care and health practices as tools to mitigate the effects of the virus.

It was no surprise that in the wake of the pandemic, poverty has increased exponentially. This is even more cruel with a population that already lived in extreme vulnerability. Delivering takeaway meals and maintaining food security for these people was the highlight of Normal Space’s work during this period of crisis. In partnership with the Women’s House of Maré, which provided the food, we delivered 300 meals every dayto people living on the streets and/or in extreme vulnerability. There have been more than 65,000 deliveries.

REPORTS

MARÉ ONLINE | APRIL 2021

Get to know the story of the first distributor of Maré de Notícias

MARÉ ONLINE | DECEMBER 2021

War on drugs is used to ignore social problems

MARÉ ONLINE | MARCH 2022

Homeless people are more vulnerable to gun violence

MARÉ ONLINE | MAY 2022

Harm Reduction: compassion to encourage autonomy and create bonds

MARÉ ONLINE | MAY 2022

Forum on Drugs completes five years and seeks a new look at public health policies

REDES DA MARÉ | SEPTEMBER 2022

Normal Space launches its new headquarters

ARTICLE | NORMAL SPACE CELEBRATES ONE YEAR OF THE OPENING OF THE CONVENIENCE CENTER

Reference project for harm reduction within the favela territory presents at an international conference in Porto and consolidates, in its 5th year of existence, methodology and results

SEE MORE PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE FACILITY AT MARÉ ONLINE

TEAM

Axis Coordination
Luna Arouca e Everton Pereira
Normal Space Coordination
Elivanda Souza
Harm Reducers
Anderson Oliveira, Messias Honorato, Lucas Brandão, André Galdino, Paulo Ricardo Azevedo e Lilian Leonel
Social Assistants
Priscila Niza

Administrative assistant
Thaís Andrade

Project Creators
Henrique Gomes, Lidiane Malanquini e Maïra Gabriel Anhorn

SPONSOR

Open Society Foundations

INSTITUTIONAL AND LOCAL PARTNERS

COMAD - Conselho Municipal Antidrogas
CAP 3.1
CAPSi Visconde de Sabugosa
CAPS Magal
UPA Maré
Hospital Federal de Bonsucesso

Associação de Moradores do Parque Maré
Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Ações para Cidadania (NIAC/UFRJ)
Centro de Estudos sobre Segurança e Cidadania (CESeC)
CAPSad III Miriam Makeba
SMASDH/CASDH
SMASDH/4ª CDS
Consultório na Rua Manguinhos
CREAS Nelson Carneiro
CRAF Tom Jobim
Escola Politécnica de Saúde Joaquim Venâncio (EPSJV) - Fiocruz
Clinica da Família Jeremias Moraes da Silva
NASF
CNDDH – Conselho Nacional de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos da População em Situação de Rua e dos catadores de Materiais Recicláveis / RJ
Defensoria Pública do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Defensoria Pública da União
Colégio Estadual Professor Joao Borges de Moraes
Escola Municipal Bahia
Programa Crack, Álcool e outras drogas - Fiocruz
Plataforma Brasileira de Política de Drogas – PBPD
Defensoria Publica do Estado do RJ (NUPEM e NUDEDH)
Cineminha na Cena: Bhega Silva – Cineminha no Beco

OPENING HOURS

Living space: Monday to Thursday 9am to 3pm
On Tuesday, services are prioritized for women
Friday 9am to 12:30pm

For questions, write to eixosaude@redesdamare.org.bror send a message to our WhatsApp:(21) 96780-4614

ADDRESS

Normal Space

Rua 17 de fevereiro, 237 - Parque Maré
Phone: 21 3105-4767

PUBLICATIONS

My name is not “crackhead”

In 2015, Redes da Maré developed a process of approaching the drug use scene on Flávia Farnese Street, in Maré, atypical in Rio de Janeiro due to its geographic and demographic stability. Combining participant observation, creation of bonds, intervention, institutional articulation and interviews with 59 of the approximately 80 residents of the scene, an attempt was made to outline the profile and identify the demands of residents, understand the incident dynamics in the space they occupy and map the policies of service that work there. A point of convergence for urban social problems and a context marked by various forms of violence, discrimination and marginalization, the study of “cracolândia” reveals the urgent need for integrated public policies, capable of expanding harm reduction practices beyond directly related to drug use. It also reveals the importance of the mediation of a civil society organization integrated in the territory to articulate demand and supply of public policies, and facilitate the formulation of sustainable strategies for assisting drug users living in the streets.

Click here to read the article

You must be alert and strong

This Collection brings together the productions of different researches and researchers linked to the Research Center on Policies for the Prevention of Violence, Access to Justice and Education in Human Rights (NUPPVAJ), linked to the Graduate Program in Social Service at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Its guiding axis is a look that avoids ethnocentric projections and listening that opens up to the demands of homeless populations for recognition, affirmation and enforcement of citizenship rights.

Click here to read the publication