Monday 04 August
2008, San José, Costa Rica
Drug Addiction
Affects "All Social Classes"
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Drug Addiction Affects
"All Social Classes"
A little over 100.000 is
the number of people
that have been arrested
for holding and
consuming "crack" in the
last eight months,
according to a report by
the Ministerio de
Seguridad Pública and
the Organismo de
Investigación Judicial (OIJ).
The majority those
arrested were men, who
committed robberies and
assaults to feed their
habit.
According to the OIJ,
some have gone as far
committing violent acts
in desperation to obtian
their next hit, which
effect lasts only
minutes, causing an
immediate and strong
psychological addiction.
Crack cocaine has been
sold and used in Costa
Rica for the last 20
years. A "piedra" (rock)
sells for ¢1.000 colones
and users don't care how
or where they get the
money.
"To me we are facing a
pandemic. We making drug
seizures every day but
the crimes continue to
rise because we have
thousands of addicts
stealing all they can ",
said the vie-ministro de
Seguridad Pública,
Gerardo Jimenez Láscarez.
Láscarez added that his
ministry does not have
the studies to precisely
say how many drug
addicts are in the
country, however, based
on the detentions by the
Fuerza Pública (police),
Láscarez estimates the
number at around
200.000.
The director of the OIJ,
Jorge Rojas, did not
hesitate to point out
the link between the
consumption of cocaine
and theft, violent
street assaults,
injuries and even murder
that is being
investigated by his
agency on a daily basis.
"We are seeing an
increase in crimes which
are much more violent
and definitely are
related to drugs", said
Rojas.
Rojas supports his
statements with figures
that show that more than
5.000 assaults committed
on the streets of San
José last year, many of
which were committed by
drug addicts.
Authorities complain of
the lack of centres of
institutions to
rehabilitate addicts.
Láscarez says that the
country is facing an
"national emergency" and
that nothing comes out
of confiscating drugs
and leaving the addicts,
who need help, on the
streets.
Láscarez is calling for
the government to
declare a national
emergency to allow
financial resources to
be allocated to dealing
with the situation.
Director Rojas assures
that drug addiction
affects "all social
classes" and that the
addicts are not only on
the streets, but also in
professionals, like
professors and lawyers,
architects and including
doctors.
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