phr
Bluelighter
In Brazil, Ecstasy rewrites rules of the drug war
ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Herald Tribune
2.15.09
SAO PAULO, Brazil - The trappings of upper-class teenage life seemed to come easily to Sander Mecca: girlfriends, rock bands, entry to stylish clubs -- and a serious Ecstasy habit. Weekend-long raves were not the same without it for Mecca, who said he sometimes consumed six pills in a span of 12 hours.
Then, at the age of 21, Mecca was arrested at a bar, accused by the police of being a drug dealer and put in prison for nearly two years.
His story is becoming more common in Brazil, where rising Ecstasy use is drawing educated young people into the cross hairs of drug enforcement. This new class of drug peddlers is a far cry from the heavily armed drug lords and their young, impoverished foot soldiers in the slums. Instead, those accused of dealing Ecstasy are often university-educated clubbers in the booming electronic dance music scene.
Differences aside, drug-trafficking in Brazil has become increasingly demonized in the eyes of the law.
Just last week, federal police arrested 55 people, many of them in Rio de Janeiro, in a nationwide investigation focused on upper-middle-class youths. In Sao Paulo, the police have singled out raves and clubs, as well as top-flight universities, in extensive undercover operations with headline-grabbing names like Operation Playboy and Operation Dancing.
Ecstasy's emergence as the drug of Brazil's wealthy has opened the door even wider for corrupt police officers. Now that Brazil has eliminated prison sentences for drug users, sending them to treatment or community service instead, the police are extracting sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for not charging those caught with Ecstasy as drug dealers, according to defense lawyers and three convicted drug dealers now out of prison.
"Consumers and Ecstasy dealers come from a higher socio-economic background," said Cristiano Maronna, a criminal lawyer in Sao Paulo. "From the police's perspective, apprehending these individuals becomes more interesting."
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ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Herald Tribune
2.15.09
SAO PAULO, Brazil - The trappings of upper-class teenage life seemed to come easily to Sander Mecca: girlfriends, rock bands, entry to stylish clubs -- and a serious Ecstasy habit. Weekend-long raves were not the same without it for Mecca, who said he sometimes consumed six pills in a span of 12 hours.
Then, at the age of 21, Mecca was arrested at a bar, accused by the police of being a drug dealer and put in prison for nearly two years.
His story is becoming more common in Brazil, where rising Ecstasy use is drawing educated young people into the cross hairs of drug enforcement. This new class of drug peddlers is a far cry from the heavily armed drug lords and their young, impoverished foot soldiers in the slums. Instead, those accused of dealing Ecstasy are often university-educated clubbers in the booming electronic dance music scene.
Differences aside, drug-trafficking in Brazil has become increasingly demonized in the eyes of the law.
Just last week, federal police arrested 55 people, many of them in Rio de Janeiro, in a nationwide investigation focused on upper-middle-class youths. In Sao Paulo, the police have singled out raves and clubs, as well as top-flight universities, in extensive undercover operations with headline-grabbing names like Operation Playboy and Operation Dancing.
Ecstasy's emergence as the drug of Brazil's wealthy has opened the door even wider for corrupt police officers. Now that Brazil has eliminated prison sentences for drug users, sending them to treatment or community service instead, the police are extracting sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for not charging those caught with Ecstasy as drug dealers, according to defense lawyers and three convicted drug dealers now out of prison.
"Consumers and Ecstasy dealers come from a higher socio-economic background," said Cristiano Maronna, a criminal lawyer in Sao Paulo. "From the police's perspective, apprehending these individuals becomes more interesting."
Link!
