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Felipe Dana / AP
A man smokes crack in the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 7. Some drug bosses say they have stopped selling crack because it destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government. City authorities take credit for the change, arguing that drug gangs are trying to create a distraction and make police back off their offensive to take back the slums.
Business was brisk in the Mandela shantytown on a recent night. In the glow of a weak light bulb, customers pawed through packets of powdered cocaine and marijuana priced at $5, $10, $25. Teenage boys with semiautomatic weapons took in money and made change while flirting with girls in belly-baring tops lounging nearby.
Next to them, a gaggle of kids jumped on a trampoline, oblivious to the guns and drug-running that are part of everyday life in this and hundreds of other slums, known as favelas, across this metropolitan area of 12 million people. Conspicuously absent from the scene was crack, the most addictive and destructive drug in the triad that fuels Rio's lucrative narcotics trade.
-- Reported by the Associated Press
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers and users gather at a drug selling point in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
People gather in an area known as "Crackland" inside the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A trafficker test fires a riffle in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A trafficker stands at a drug selling point that stopped selling crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A masked and armed trafficker at a drug selling point that no longer sells crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Crack users gather under a bridge in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A crack user leaves a crack house near the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Nice to have ethical drug dealers! Think we can get them to move here?
They're not that ethical - it's just that crackheads hang around the drug markets in unsightly groupings, doing all the craziness that crackheads do. And that attracts the (unwelcome) attention of the authorities who are trying to put a nice face on the city for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics :D
How noble of them. I also would like to know their position on meth - is that better than crack? Such difficult questions...
I'm sure the IOC is having orgasms over this, Rio makes Chicago look like Emerald City.
Chicago will never look that good no matter what.....
That will be a fun place for the Olympics in 4yrs. Wonderful choice
Crack is whack. ummmmkay.
Wonder if this might change by the time the olympic games begin to ramp up. Lots of visitors means lots of customers. Hope it's not the case though.
I am deeply moved and are they going to say no to being criminals !!!!
makes the Olympics even more irrelevant for me.
The police and the community leaders and the business owners and the churches do nothing about this?
Hard to believe.
Jesus Christ is the answer for all people in any hardship, always.
Well, Herald ... we once lived in South America ... though not in Brazil, though we had friends from there ... nice people ... but a nation that is not really a nation. Regrettably what we see is the result of a discarded piece of empire ... annexed by the Roman Catholic Church as it divided up the heathen and primitive world between its minions Spain and Portugal. Indigenous people who would not convert were enslaved or killed. What learning and civilization that which have existed there was wiped out as 'work of the devil'.
Governments come and go, but they remain very powerful there ... so we are left to wonder why it is that they do not deal with this ... but then perhaps .. in the darker regions ... unseen ... such suits their purposes.
Enlightened civilizations have not been kind to the 'holy see' ... in recent centuries ...the one and only, truly, completely, unquestioned, holy god appointed representatives of god upon the whole Earth ...
Christ the answer? ... perhaps ... but certainly none of those who dance about claiming to speak in his name. Perhaps one means the ill informed descendants of the protestant reformers who cast aside all of the deeper meaning of the faith and based it upon shallow superstition alone ...
.. then of course, this is just a mental exercise ... right?
Violence and attrocities have been commited in the name of God for centuries. The crusades, inquisition and lately the Jihad.
Such hate and destruction. All in the name of your maker.
IMO, there is nothing wrong with being spiritual. It's their leaders that drive the masses towards genocide and mayhem.
Religion is for people who are afraid to go to hell .Spirituality is for people that have already been there
thank you cooch
@The Voice of Doom- Instead of sounding all wise and mysterious, I thought you sounded like a jacka$$. what with your grammar being all "that which" it was.
Do nothing about what?
Please give them tools to feel self esteem; to be a leader; to make a change. Create jobs and purposes. Give them stake in the game of human self-worth. Send them footballs and sports equipment. The rich chew fat as the poor gnash their teeth not knowing what to do. I feel sad knowing they have not been given enough child-borne passion to resist. In this case, crack has been replaced with something else, don't be fooled! Either way, repeat from letter one. May my words create effective---affective action. I love you weather or not you can make a change. Bless your own actions- no One else is going to do it for you!! My hat in my lap...
I almost agreed until i seen ' give them foot balls and create jobs for them'. All nations in the world have done this and where are we now. Their country, they have found a way to make it work. What makes you so sure that you are right ? You want them to live like you do and you profess to being free but how "free" are you really? Their country, their business, we need to worry about our back yard before we stick our nose in someone else's business. Drugs? people have been doing drugs since the beginning of time. I am willing to bet 90% of the world does drugs but because it's drugs they approve of it is all right. 1 example; caffiene
While I may be guilty of using Caffeine on a regular basis, I've myself have never robbed a house or bank nor have I killed anyone because of my use of it, nor have I ever heard of anyone dying from caffeine overdose.
Comparing Crack or Heroin to caffeine is ridiculous.
Resist what? Humans have always sought to alter consciousness.
No Janine, not that ridiculous. The majority of illegal drug users never rob anyone, never overdose. They're just normal people who have jobs, families and friends. They live their lives just like everyone else. You'd no more be able to distinguish them than you could who likes to eat peas.
As for caffeine there are reported cases of fatal overdoses.
Wow, is this supposed to make drug dealers look honorable?
... no ... simply ... pragmatic ...
Honorable people sell and use marijuana every day. These people make a living for themselves..they don't need any "job creators"..they don't need any foodstamps.
Honorable people sell and use drugs every day. Did you actually read what you typed?
Very responsible father of 3 boys? I highly (pun intended) doubt it.
Sitting on your ass making lots of money by poisoning people is not an honorable thing to do.
realityseeker:
For a moment, I thought you were talking about our pharmaceutical companies or defense contractors.
so you are saying alcohol companys are honorable too! that just as bad as crack more people do it.
Ethical drug dealers indeed. They going pay taxes and volunteer now? sarc
Tax them and they will pay taxes..unless they are Mitt Romney..or Mormon.
Or a gay atheist.
If you have something to say, say it..why be a pussy? Are you imitating that wimp, Mormon Mitt the Twit?
GAM,
That's a new one. It was always fun when the Marine whose a$$ I just kicked found out I was Air Force. Yup, those were good memories.
Make the drugs legal, then they can pay taxes. Don't whine about them not paying taxes if they cannot do so.
There all such nice looking people! Wouldn't you like your neighborhood to look like that?
Didn't I see that tall guy floating over the hurdles in the Olympics? Must be how they get such good times.
That's exactly the kind of people we would have, if they legalize drugs.
Take a look. Drugs may not be 'written legal' here but without cop enforcement, they are legal.
Nice neighborhood, I'm sure America isn't much further down the road.
I wonder how long it took for the Roman Empire to decay into ruin...
In my neighborhood here in Seattle, built by Paul Allen and Amazon, weed is legal in a practical sense. I can buy it at the store...same as Colorado. My neighborhood is very enjoyable and very walkable...and people use the neighborhood instead of just driving thru it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this:
If you want to arrest people for drugs, or somehow "put and end" to drug use (which is a waste of time), you should be the first person to offer to pay triple taxes plus a little extra.
We will need you to finance more prisons, security, medical, educational, dietary, legal, and judicial services.
Can I put you down for $10,000 now and $5,000 a month from now on? Arresting people for smoking weed is worth it, don't you think?
The Roman Empire lasted 2000 years..the USA has lasted 200 years..you need perspective.
Get back to me in 1800 years and we can talk...you might be right by then...otherwise, you are wrong.
Stop sounding like an ignorant housewife from the 1950s midwest...it's making me crazy.
Roman empire last 2000 years? Which one?
Let me guess, your PMOS was an 0121.
Liars:
Actually, the Roman Civilization - what we would collectively refer to as "Roman", did last approximately 2,000 years, going through (what any reasonable person would expect) various periods in which certain characteristics were either ascendant or declining (Republican characteristics, Empire characteristics, etc.. with a specific time frame denoted as 'Empire', though throughout its history it has displayed 'Empire' characteristics to one degree or another as we would view 'Empire' in a classical sense implying expansion / conquest)
In essence, the Marine is correct. Though until I looked it up and did a little research... I was a little skeptical.
Question: America didn't begin truly expanding (as an Empire is wont to do) until the turn of the Industrial revolution. Does that therefore negate the first ~100 years of American existence?
Hardly.
The Romans didn't have Obama to ruin it 1800 years too soon. LOL
J701 asked how long it took to decay into ruins.
You "historians" with your time frame assume that it began to decay from the beginning. Don't believe you answered his question.
And GAM - your arrogance and airs of superiority are really boring.
Gayathestistmarine? Okay...let me get this straight (no pun), you want us to get back to you in 1800 years or so? I'm guessing you meant that figuratively right? And by the way, you can't "just buy it in a store" in Colorado...it can only be purchased legally at a licensed medical marijuana clinic (there are only 2,300 in a state with 5 million people) using a valid prescription. They have some dynamite weed, but you have to have a reason to buy it...I don't remember what the reasons are...what were we talking about anyway?
I love how people can look at the photo's above then bitch about how bad the US economy is.
I hope that crack really makes you feel good, because it doesn't seem to do much for your looks.
LOL
No, it makes you feel really bad. It's just incredibly addictive. And as far as legalizing drugs - we already have legalized drugs. They're called alcohol and tobacco. It's only those who profit from those drugs who really control the legalization of marijuana (which is what the guy said, not "drugs"). Marijuana should be legal. But the alcohol, tobacco, prison, law-enforcement, judicial, and legal communities would lose so much business!
Crack Goggles?
I guess it helps to scroll to the top and read the title to the article. At first glimpse I thought this was Detroit. But then again some parts of Flint look worse. So it is Rio. Sounds like they are following the words of Whitney (Crack is Whack). Good for them. Everything should be OK now.
The longest summer I ever had was the weekend I spent in Houston. I wouldn't go too heavy on other states there Tex, y'all don't have much to talk about.
Holy Cow SactoJD, you made it a whole weekend? I'm impressed!
ROFL, and the Olympics are supposed to be held THERE???
Good luck with that LOL.
Looks like Hell on Earth to me, with lots of depraved tortured souls. Extremely dismal.
Whitney Houston thinks it's Heaven.
Who are YOU to speak ill of Whitney..... mister "GayAtheistMarine"????? I mean really.... you are GAY, ATHEIST, AND A DAMN MARINE??? Oh good holy hell dude! *sigh*
You could thank me for my service...if you have a mind to...but I'm sure Bobby Brown is your role model.
The marine might have been right about Whitney.
Marine IS CAPITALIZED ALWAYS IN EVERY CASE WHEN IT REFERS TO USMC PERSONEL.
Whitney got Whitney high...not me...chances are, Whitney would have treated me like dirt, had she ever come into contact with me.
GAM,
There are no atheists when you're on the battlefield.
Were you an 0151?
Atheists are Atheists on the battlefield or off the choice to believe in Santa Clause has nothing to do with a battlefield or gunfire.
No LiarsInPolitics: GAM is a 317 (it's a secret code that you can unlock if you look hard enough).
Looks like there is a lot of crack being smoked according to the pictures shown. I guess the drug dealers just bring in pure coke and the crackheads make their own. These are some really classy criminals.
No Law Enforcement = Legal (no police involvement)
And this is the kind of environment you drug legalizers want?!?
Why do anti-drug fanatics hate freedom so much? Why do they hate the US and the ideals upon which it was founded?
The government should hand out free pure crack cocaine to all addicts. Then let them OD. Problem solved!! Follow that policy with any other drugs the addicts start using. The other option is for the government to summarily kill all the drug dealers and bomb the homes/planes/cars/yachts of the drug bosses using drones. Tell the people that they will be given pardons for killing the narcotraficantes! Kill a drug dealer/gang banger for God and country!!
City authorities? They are the head thugs, sure they want to remove any heat from themselves.
This is a Catholic nation.
It is overPOPEulated.
Catholics breed uncontrolably and ther are no jobs, so any sane person will resort to drugs as a way to cope with overPOPEulation.
Thank God you won't be reproducing.
I have three fine sons, you filthy UNamerican bigot.
GayAtheistMarine,
So when you're stoned out of your gourd, who's taking care of your sons?
GAM, you are out-spoken and well-spoken. I only wish that you were not an atheist. I don't go to church at all or belong to any organized religion, but if there is a heaven, I would surely like to meet you there.
and, truly, thank you for your service.
Sounds like they ran out of cash buyers because they were all whacked out and stealing from and killing each other. Its hard to maintain a business when you have no paying customers.
We can thank the past 100 years of American "colonialism" trying to steal every resource and good thing from the unsuspecting peoples of South and Central America and the rest of the world. We destabilzed governments that didnt agree with us and forced coups and revolutions to make sure our "Chosen" people were in charge and after we stripped them bare, we left a pile of crap for these poor people to climb out of. Then the CIA developed "Crack" in the late 70's and its been a great ride ever since..Thanks, Amerika for being a good neighbor...
Urban cowboy. It dont matter. in the future watch china and russia doing the same thing. syria is russias mess and china is now going into africa to get "natural resources" If it was not us it would be someone else. Started with england, spain, germany, portugal, italy, france and further back greece. and after the great colonialisms look at where those countries are today. Broke. Cause thats where the US is headed. Courtesy mostly of china and russia.
100% agreement Thomas!
Why do we give a sh.it what a bunch of spi.cs do in S America? How the hell is this news?
Drugs ARE legal here. You just need a lot of money, you know, like Rush Limbaugh.
Wont matter its the same here. Drugs are going to come into the US no matter what you do. People want to get stoned and slobber. Same will happen there. Or are you telling me the crack addicts are just going to quit cold turkey and turn into marijuana smokers or beeraholics. Yeah thats really gonna happen.
Are the drug dealers going to start halfway houses to get the crack addicts straight? Bunch of cow cookies. Well there is one option. cut out the crack and substitute heroin, then they would just have a bunch of people laying around with the dozies. Heroin addicts dont freak out like crack or meth addicts. they probably just need a change of drug.
Maybe they need a change of lifestyle where they can become productive citizens instead of sitting around getting stoned because their lives are so hard. And yes there lives are hard. But then if they were not sitting around stoned all the time maybe they could actually accomplish something. Or just sit around and get stoned cause its the easy way out.
Thomas " Wont matter its the same here. Drugs are going to come into the US no matter what you do" I thought they allready in here.?
If you have 3 fine sons, freedom to proclaim your sexual orientation and the right to openly profess your belief that there is no higher power why are you so angry?
Self-loathing is the answer. GayAtheistMarine shows no honor getting high while having 3 sons in his care.
His sexual orientation, meh. I've known many service members that were gay and it didn't bother me. I judged them by their character and formed friendships. One explained it to me, we're not recruiting straights or trying to convert them. With my sense of humor, I called him a cock tease and we both had a huge laugh.