Cocaine paste

"oxi" redirects here. For the Greek holiday, see OXI.

Cocaine paste, also known as coca paste, paco, pasta base or basuco in South America, short for pasta de cocaína (cocaine paste) or pasta base de cocaína (PBC, cocaine base paste), is a collective name given to several different cocaine products. Cocaine paste includes crude intermediate stages of the cocaine preparation process and their freebase forms as well as "crack cocaine" prepared from pure cocaine hydrochloride.[1] Crude Cocaine was first precipitated by Peruvian pharmacist Alfredo Bignon in 1885. He presented his findings at the Academia Libre de Medicina de Lima, where a distinguished panel of Peruvian doctors and chemists judged his innovation in a ten-page official report. Using simple precipitation methods and local ingredients — fresh-grown Andean coca leaf, kerosene, soda ash — he was able to produce a chemically active "crude" cocaine in "an easy and economic preparation in the same place as coca cultivation" at home in Peru.[2]

Preparation and effects

Crude cocaine preparation intermediates are marketed as cheaper alternatives to pure cocaine to local markets while the more expensive end product is exported to US and European markets. Freebase cocaine paste preparations can be smoked. The psychological and physiological effects of the paco are quite severe.[3][4] Media usually report that it is extremely toxic and addictive.[5][6][7] According to a study by Intercambios, media appear to exaggerate the effects of paco. These stereotypes create a sense that nothing can be done to help a paco addict and thus stands in the way of rehabilitation programs.[8]

Basuco, Colombia

Basuco is the term used for cocaine paste in Colombia, the world's second biggest cocaine producer after Peru. Basuco is derived from the Spanish word for trash (basura), literally meaning "little dirty trash" (of cocaine), referring to the paste left at the bottom of a barrel after cocaine production. Basuco is mostly smoked, either rolled like a cigarette with tobacco or cannabis, or more commonly from selfmade pipes. These are often improvised from PVC so users will inhale toxic plastic components. Basuco is said to be "more potent than the crack cocaine found across European and American cities". Basuco users may take other psychoactive agents, like industrial alcohol and MDMA to manage the drug effects, the high and the paranoia.[9]

Per the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Colombia there were 4644 basuco users in Bogotá alone; the drug's illicitness and accompanying homelessness prohibit an accurate count. [9]

Since September 2012, a "Mobile Centre for Attention to Drug Addicts" (CAMAD) has been providing basic human services with an interdisciplinary team moving by bus in Bogota's worst affected neighbourhoods and working in a prison. Three hospitals participate with walk-in treatment, amongst them the public Hospital Centro Oriente.[9] Gustavo Petro, the Mayor of Bogotá, who established CAMAD, will be finishing his last term in October 2015, and the future of the program is uncertain. Since CAMAD cannot offer services such as HIV testing, needle exchange, or safe injection sites, its "...current levels of progress are not comparable with those of countries that have invested greater resources in the implementation of such schemes", per UNODOC. CAMAD has been criticised for not doing enough by a Colombian non-governmental organisation called "Technical Social Action" (ATS), and by "right-leaning politicians and the public for negotiating terms with the criminal gangs that control [certain] areas".[9]

Paco in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay

Cocaine paste is very popular through several South American countries including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and is referred to as paco or pasta base in Uruguay and Chile. Between 2001 and 2005, the use of paco in Argentina increased by 200%, with more than 150,000 young people taking it regularly.[6][10] A report by the Transnational Institute states that it is difficult to know the exact nature of this substance and its effects and that they could "neither confirm nor discount the various hypotheses offered in those cities".[1]

In 2007, crackdowns in Peru and Bolivia forced traffickers to move to Argentina to produce cocaine which, according to the Los Angeles Times, is ideal for its "advanced chemical industry, [its] porous border with Bolivia and a notoriously corrupt police force." Eventually, this prompted traffickers to sell their byproduct to locals.[5] The use underscores a significant shift in both Argentina and its larger neighbour Brazil, which in just a few years have become sizable cocaine consumers. Brazil now ranks as the second largest total consumer of cocaine in the world after the United States, per the United States Department of State.

In Argentina, cocaine paste used to go for about 30 cents (in USD) a dose, enough for a powerful two-minute high.[11] However, its price has increased because of higher demand, among other causes.[12]

Slang terms

Argentina

Chile

USA

Italia

Oxi

Oxi (abbr. from Portuguese oxidado) is a stimulant drug based on cocaine paste originally developed in the Brazilian Amazon forest region.[13] It is reportedly a mixture of cocaine paste, petrol, kerosene and quicklime (calcium oxide).[14] This description may be a garbled account of an acid-base extraction procedure. Its popularity has soared in the last decade, in part due to its strongly addictive effect and lower price than other common drugs. While in the 1980s it could be found mainly in the Amazon region, the police in major Brazilian cities have recently reported significant drug arrests.[15] Possible health effects are likely to be similar to normal cocaine.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Paco Under Scrutiny: The cocaine base paste market in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil." (PDF). Drugs and Conflict (Amsterdam: Transnational Institute) 14. April 2006. ISSN 1871-3408.
  2. ↑ Gootenburg, Paul (2008). Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug. United States: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 1. ISBN 0807859052.
  3. ↑ Jeri, FR (1984). "Coca-paste smoking in some Latin American countries: a severe and unabated form of addiction". Bulletin on narcotics 36.2.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Katharine; Adriana Luk; Gursharan S. Soor; Jonathan R. Abraham; Shaun Leong; Dr Jagdish Butany (June 2009). "Cocaine Cardiotoxicity". American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs 9 (3): 177–196. doi:10.1007/bf03256574.
  5. 1 2 Mcdonnell, Patrick J. (2007-05-25). "Argentina confronts plague named Paco". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  6. 1 2 Christine Legrand. "En Argentine, des mères se mobilisent contre le "paco", la drogue des pauvres – Amériques". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  7. ↑ Navai, Ramita (2008-04-28). "Cocaine's lethal leftovers take violent grip on slum children". The Times (London). Retrieved 2009-04-05. (registration required)
  8. ↑ "DRUGS-ARGENTINA: 'Pasta Base' Destructive but Not Invincible". Ipsnews.net. 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Joe Parkin Daniels (12 September 2015). "Bogotá tackles basuco addiction". Lancet 386 (9998): 1027–1028. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00189-0.
  10. ↑ "Drugs scourge takes hold in Argentina". BBC News. 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  11. ↑ "Paco is cheap. It usually goes for about 30 cents a dose, enough for a powerful two-minute high."
  12. ↑ Archived November 2, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Oxi: New Drug Terrifies Brazil | The Rio Times I Brazil News. Riotimesonline.com (2011-04-26). Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  14. ↑ Phillips, Tom (May 30, 2011). "Oxi: Twice as powerful as crack cocaine at just a fraction of the price". The Guardian. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  15. ↑ Inside Brazil's toxic drug culture – Features. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2011-10-10.

External links

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