Ecstasy Ensnares Upper-Class Teenagers in Brazil

[groovedaddy]

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The trappings of upper-class teenage life seemed to come easily to Sander Mecca: girlfriends, rock bands, entry to stylish clubs — and a serious Ecstasy habit. Weekend-long raves were not the same without it for Mr. Mecca, who said he sometimes consumed six pills in a span of 12 hours.

Then, at the age of 21, Mr. Mecca was arrested at a bar, accused by the police of being a drug dealer and put in prison for nearly two years, where he bunked alongside hardened criminals and watched other wealthy so-called playboys get lured into a life of organized crime.

His story is becoming more common in Brazil, where rising Ecstasy use is drawing a new class of educated young people into the cross hairs of drug enforcement here in South America’s largest country.

This new class of drug peddlers is a far cry from the heavily armed drug lords and their young, impoverished foot soldiers in the slums, where the Brazilian police send small armies to wage deadly battles against them. Instead, those accused of dealing Ecstasy are often university-educated clubbers in the booming electronic dance music scene, an import from Europe and the United States that is taking South America by storm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/americas/15ecstasy.html?th&emc=th

[endarkenment]

1. Ectasy appears to be a passive observer in this 'ensnaring'.

More WOSD idiocy, more wrecked lives.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. "into the cross hairs of drug enforcement here"

Stop the stupid WOD and that problem is solved.