80% OF PUERTO RICO MURDERS CALLED DRUG-RELATED

SAN JUAN - About 80 percent of the murders committed in Puerto Rico
are directly linked to drug trafficking, authorities and academics
say.

The violence is one of the consequences of the passage of drugs
through Puerto Rico, which has become a bridge for the trafficking of
narcotics to the mainland United States, Felix Bauso, head of the San
Juan police drugs and vice division, told Efe Monday.

"The drugs come from South America, via the Dominican Republic, to
Puerto Rico," he said, adding that it is a business involving many
millions of dollars that has become a means of support and a way of
life for thousands of Puerto Ricans.

Bauso also acknowledged that a significant part of the drugs smuggled
onto the island remains in Puerto Rico to satisfy the demand of the
40,000 hard-core drug users who currently live in the U.S.
commonwealth.

He emphasized that the product of drug consumption worsened in recent
years due to the low purity grade of narcotics being sold on the
streets of the Caribbean island.

"Because of the lack of purity, addicts have to buy more doses, which
increases the problem of crime that surrounds the drug world," he said.

He said that the main illegal substances arriving in Puerto Rico are
cocaine, crack, heroin and marijuana.

Meanwhile, University of Puerto Rico researcher Hector Colon said that
the island's drug users collectively spend nearly $3 million a day to
feed their habits.

Colon also said that keeping an addict incarcerated costs between
$28,000 and $30,000 per year, to which must be added other costs
pertaining to medical attention when the inmates have AIDS or hepatitis.

Police recently dealt a severe blow to the drug world here by
arresting 38 people linked to the criminal organization of captured
drug trafficker Angel Ayala Vazquez, known as "Angelo Millions" and an
associate of some well-known reggaeton artists. EFE