This paper seeks to ask questions about the actions of the social service at a public treatment center for drug using and drug abusing teenagers in Rio de Janeiro: the Recovering Lives Treatment Center, managed by the General Department for Socioeducational Actions (DEGASE), which is responsible for carrying out socioeducational measures in that Brazilian state. This paper also provides analyses relating to the limits imposed by implementing these policies within the socioeducational system that acts in relation to teenagers who are in conflict with the law, and also highlights the possibilities that this fertile field provides for our profession.
Teenagers; Socioeducational system; Drug use