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Officials Consider Radical Measures against Brazil’s “Crackland”
Monday, January 21, 2013 20:21
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Authorities in Brazil prepare to get tough on crack cocaine addicts. Rio de Janeiro city officials are considering passing a law which would make the compulsory treatment of crack cocaine users legal as the nation's infamous “cracklands” grow. In Rio de Janeiro, crack users were driven out to outlying favelas after a 2008 initiative saw police take over the city's main shantytowns, or favelas. Now, in an effort to “clean-up” the city ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, officials are pushing for the compulsory treatment of crack-cocaine addicts living in the streets. Health officials, assisted by armed police, would try to convince crack-cocaine users into getting treatment – or take them away forcibly if they resist. The measure is hugely polarizing. Some don't believe in the one size fits all solution. [Leonardo Pecoraro Costa, President of Drug Policy Council of Rio de Janeiro]: “We don't support the treatment, either compulsory or involuntary, as a model to be applied to all drug addicts. In specific cases, properly followed by health professionals, that can be an option, but it has to be part of a bigger plan.” An addict, who declined to give his name, also disagreed. [Anonymous, Cocaine Addict]: “I decide if want to go or not (to get treatment). I have gone many times.” But according to Silvia Tedesco, a Psychologist Professor at the Federal Fluminense University, in Rio de Janeiro, the country's politicians are trying to find a short-term solution for …
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2013-01-21 20:16:23
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzZ5Do-KArI&feature=youtube_gdata
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