Proving that Latin American drug production is not entirely consumed by America, a recent study in Brazil has shown that there are now 10 times more crackheads in the nation than just 8 years prior. It is now thought to be the predominate form of substance abuse in the nation of 191 million, even more popular than alcohol.
The administration is responding by putting over $2 billion towards trafficking crackdowns and substance abuse treatment. Unfortunately this means putting another 8,500 troops on their border, shared with 10 other countries including some that already have enough problems with militarized borders, including Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela. These troops will also be expected to crack down on illegal mining and deforestation efforts deep in the Amazon.
Crack is not only taking hold in the area but another, even more dangerous form of cocaine known as "Oxi," which is usually cocaine mixed with quicklime, paraffin, or petrol. It is extremely cheap, short-lasting, and addictive and is a favorite of extremely poor substance abusers in Sout America.
The efforts of the military operation have already born fruit as the Brazilian government has announced that at least 10 clandestine airstrips used for varying forms of smuggling have already been shut down.
However, just as in America and Mexico, Brazil's policy falls short of dealing with social and economic problems fueling drug abuse. While it is unlikely that Brazil's humungous border could actually be secured against contraband, the country's chronic and expansive poverty problems can be dealt with. However the Brazilian government, despite having record cash reserves thanks to its relationship to the energy industry, has largely continued to ignore expanding social services to its worst-off citizens. Brazil's generationally poverty-stricken are perhaps best known in slums where orphans live on the streets of slums where many people are packed into one-room apartments and there is little clean food or water to be had for many miles.
For anyone really looking to curb crack cocaine abuse in Brazil, they'd be better off starting with those that whose suffering make them vulnerable to drug abuse in the first place. Brazil's chronic poor have been a drug epidemic in waiting for years, and now the government is running out of excuses.
Treating poverty, lack of education, mental health problems, and addictions are the only way to curb destructive and generational drug abuse. When funds for social services are put towards taking care of unwanted children, treating mental illnesses, and facing up to drug addiction, guns and imprisonment are often found to be unnecessary in confronting drug menaces.
