Brazil is a country on the up. Economic growth, an increase in average wealth, the FIFA World Cup is coming in 2014 and the Olympic Games pay a visit in 2016. However, in a country on the up there is always a group of people who don’t benefit and take the way down. In this series the focus is on the ever growing population of crack addicts, who roam the streets like extras in The Walking Dead.
1A drug user consumes crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia March 19, 2012. Many Brazilian cities now have their own cracklands areas of the city where swarms of crack users have converted entire neighborhoods into nocturnal encampments doubling as open-air crack markets. At nightfall throngs of stupefied buyers crowd around dealers before skulking away behind the telltale glow of cigarette lighters. Sociologists, health experts, and law enforcement officials all agree that crack use is a rapidly growing problem that puts Brazil squarely in the center of the international drug trade, just a few years ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. Picture taken March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lunae Parracho '
2A drug trafficker shows a rock of crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
3A drug user consumes crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
4A combination picture shows a street in Sao Paulo during the day (L) and at night March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
5Crack addicts consume the drug on a street in Sao Paulo March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
6Crack addicts smoke under a bridge in the center of Belo Horizonte March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Washington Alves
7A drug user consumes crack in an abandoned house in Porto Alegre March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Diego Vara
8Crack addicts smoke along a bridge in the center of Belo Horizonte March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Washington Alves
9Drug users consume crack in a neighborhood of Curitiba March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer
10Crack addicts quarrel on a street in Sao Paulo March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
11Crack addicts smoke under a bridge in the center of Belo Horizonte March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Washington Alves
12Crack consumers gather in the Jacare neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
13A drug user consumes crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
14A pregnant crack dealer counts her money on a street in Sao Paulo March 18, 2012. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
15Women consume crack in downtown Manaus March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
16A 23-year-old man consumes crack in downtown Manaus March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
17Crack addicts consume the drug on a street in Sao Paulo March 20, 2012. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
18A man smokes crack in the Manguinhos neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
19A youth consumes crack on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
20Crack consumers gather in the Gloria neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
21A drug user smokes crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lunae Parracho
22A drug user consumes crack in an abandoned house in Porto Alegre March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Diego Vara
23A youth consumes crack on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
24A youth consumes crack on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro March 19, 2012. Many Brazilian cities now have their own cracklands areas of the city where swarms of crack users have converted entire neighborhoods into nocturnal encampments doubling as open-air crack markets. At nightfall throngs of stupefied buyers crowd around dealers before skulking away behind the telltale glow of cigarette lighters. Sociologists, health experts, and law enforcement officials all agree that crack use is a rapidly growing problem that puts Brazil squarely in the center of the international drug trade, just a few years ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. Picture taken March 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes |