ABSTRACT
Qualitative study conducted with nurses from the Family Health Strategy in João Pessoa, PB, Brasil. The purpose was to investigate the nurses' role in the approach to the drug addict, analyzing the strategies of basic nursing care applied to them. The selection for the study followed the criterion for acceptance. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview, giving priority to participant's talks. One noticed the lack of professional training of the nurses in relation to the drug addiction, by restricting their actions to taking these users to more specialized services in mental health. It must redefine the attention, putting a new paradigm of health as a right and as a social community construction, from a global view of the processes of social interaction.