The is the second in a series of blogs regarding the current drug problem in Brazil. You may be surprised that Brazil is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. You may also be surprised that it is quite common for drug use and abuse to increase in growing economies.
In the first blog we looked at how prevalent marijuana and cocaine are in Brazil. We also examined a horrific crack problem that has virtually disappeared in the last 10 years.
Whereas crack used to be for sale everywhere it seems crack heads are a thing of the past. How the heck did this happen? The reason may surprise you.
The change hadn't come from any police or public health campaign. Instead, the dealers themselves have stopped selling the drug in a move that traffickers and others say will spread citywide within the next two years.
Surely it can’t be that drug lords have a social conscience, could it? The drug bosses, often born and raised in the very slums they now lord over, say crack destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government.
One drug lord was quoted on his thoughts on crack, "I see this misery," he said. "I'm a human being too, and I'm a leader here. I want to say I helped stop this." This is the second in a series of blogs on Brazil’s drug problem.