COCAINE USE SPREADS IN BRAZIL

Once a Transit Point, Country Is Now a Big Consumer

There is a deadly new drug problem in Latin America's largest country:
cocaine consumption.

Brazil, a sprawling country of 170 million, once was mainly a transit
point for cocaine smuggled from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru and bound
for the United States and Europe. But today, Brazil has become one of
the world's largest markets for illicit drugs, particularly cocaine.

The sharp increase in Brazilian consumption has changed an important
dynamic in the drug war: a belief in Latin America that U.S. demand
alone has fueled the vast illegal drug industry in countries where
coca leaves are grown and transformed into cocaine and from which the
drugs are smuggled north.

"Cocaine use is becoming globalized," said a U.S. diplomat in Latin
America. "We're all in this together now."

But Brazil leads the way. Although consumption levels are difficult to
measure, U.S. officials and Brazilian academics estimate the volume of
cocaine and its cheaper derivatives being sold and consumed here --
including crack and low-quality powder -- has equaled or surpassed
that sold in developed European nations such as Germany and France.
The United States, with its 280 million inhabitants, they say, is now
the only nation clearly consuming more cocaine than Brazil, although
other, smaller nations may have higher per capita consumption.

The new consumption boom stems from a surge in cheaper forms of
cocaine that even Brazil's vast underclass can afford. In Sao Paulo,
Brazil's largest city and the third-largest in the world, crack
cocaine has hit the ghettos.

In Rio, the drug of choice is low-quality powder cut with aspirin and
sold in small plastic bags for about $1.50

Although this falls far short of the U.S. consumption rate of about
5.3 million peoulation, orine culture" has set off a highly magnified
version of the urban drug violence once so common in U.S. cities.

Brazilian slums have turned into urban battlefields ruled by "drug
commands" that act as alternative governments. They offer slum
dwellers security patrols, food baskets and even new soccer fields.
They also offer entertainment. At packed weekend dance parties,
guarded by youths carrying AK-47 assault rifles, cocaine is openly
sold at prices as low as 50 cents a line.

At the same time, the cocaine industry has infiltrated Brazilian
politics and business. A recent 18-month congressional investigation
tied 827 prominent Brazilians to drug trafficking, dealing and money
laundering. They included two national congressmen, 15 state
legislators, four mayors, six bank directors and a host of police
officers and judges.

"Cocaine is now infecting nearly every aspect of our society," said
Argemiro Procopio, professor of international relations at the
University of Brasilia and one of the country's leading experts on
drug consumption.

"Not only are we witnessing an alarming hike in cocaine consumed by
the rich and middle class, but cocaine has become democratized," Mr.
Procopio said. "Even the poor are getting hooked. We can't hide from
this problem anymore."