[Health care models for users of alcohol and other drugs: political discourse, knowledge, and practices]

This article aims to characterize health care models for users of alcohol and other drugs in the Brazilian context. Discourse analysis was performed on public drug policy in Brazil from the 1970s. This analysis was contextualized by a brief digression on the main political positions identified in several countries of the world in relation to drug use problems. Beginning in the current decade, drug policies in Brazil have been receptive to harm reduction approaches, resulting in reorientation of the health care model. In conclusion, the structuring and strengthening of a network of care for users of alcohol and other drugs and their families, based on community care and the harm reduction approach and combined with other social and health services, is now a key public health challenge for the country.