Crack in Brasilien
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Rio de Janeiro. Comando Vermelho drug gang. crack can be purchased for only R$5 (less than $3 USD). some drug traffickers have unilaterally decided to stop selling crack. In both Mandela and Jacarezinho favelas - combined home to more than 100,000 residents - crack can no longer be purchased. Two drug bosses, who control each favela, gave the orders to halt sales. A dirt road bordering Mandela favela that previously was known to be one of Rio's largest concentrations of users (known as "cracolandias" in Brazil). Addicts were robbing homes, killing each other for nothing inside the community. We wanted to avoid all that, so we stopped selling it." Crack sales have been halted in just two of Rio's favelas, but Flavia Pinheiro Froes, a lawyer who represents many drug traffickers, said she expects more drug bosses to join in soon. Pinheiro Froes heads "Anjos da Liberdade" (Angels of Liberty), an organisation that provides job training for former drug dealers in Rio. Her clients include top traffickers from all three of Rio's main trafficking organisations: Comando Vermelho, Amigos dos Amigos and Terceiro Comando Puro. Her efforts were behind halting sales at Mandela and Jacarezinho favelas, and now she is using her contacts with the powerful gang leaders from all sides to convince even more to stop selling crack. "Our campaign is not only done in the communities directly with the traffickers that are selling, but also with some of the drug gang leaders that are in jail," Pinheiro Froes said. "I think convincing the seller could be one of the most efficient ways to combat crack because if there is no supply we will be able to solve the problem of the consumer." Pinheiro Froes, whose current and past clients make up a "most wanted" list of Rio's most notorious drug traffickers, said many traffickers witness the destruction crack wreaks on lives first hand as they have family and friends who are addicted. She said she is hoping for even commitments for the gangs to stop buying from the big suppliers, some of whom are in neighbouring countries.
Police in Rio remain sceptical and dismissive of any gestures by the traffickers, even those who have already stopped selling crack. Marcello Maia, one of the Rio civil police's top drug crime investigators, believes the move is just an attempt by the traffickers to gain sympathy and divert attention from the other drugs they readily admit them continue to sell. "I think this is just a trick that the traffickers are doing," Maia told Al Jazeera. "What they think is that now the police will stop combating other drugs they are selling, and we still stop entering their strongholds. But this is not what is going to happen."
For police and city and federal officials, curtailing crack addiction is a new, major national priority. Last November, President Dilma Rousseff launched a two-year, $2bn nationwide campaign to get crack addicts off the streets, and to bolster capacity of treatment facilities. More than $125m of that money will go directly to Rio de Janeiro, local officials have said.
Once addicts are admitted into assistance centres, there is no law forcing adults to stay; they are free to walk out whenever they please, and many do after getting a hot shower and a meal. The money set aside from the federal government is meant to add more officers and treatment centres all over Brazil to try to give officials more leverage to deal with the problem. "If our boss tells us to stop selling crack, we will," Joao said.
Follow Gabriel Elizondo on Twitter @elizondogabriel
- With producing by Alan Roberto Lima and Maria Elena Romero.