Paco (drug)

Paco (Spanish, Pasta de Cocaina) is a smokable, cheap, and highly addictive street drug. It is a chemical byproduct left over when Andean coca leaves are turned into a paste and then formulated into cocaine bound for US and European markets. Formerly considered lab trash, the substance became popular in the impoverished Argentinian neighborhoods after the country's 2001 financial collapse. ^[1]

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Because the drug is smoked rather than sniffed, the physiological impacts are addictive and can cause lasting physical damage. Buenos Aires' provincial government says that intense paco consumption can cause "cerebral death" in as little as six months. In Argentina, paco used to go for about 30 cents (USD) a dose, enough for a powerful two-minute high. ^[2]. However, lately, its price has gone up as a result of a higher demand, between other causes.^[3]

Kelly Hearn wrote:

• Users describe being hooked by the first use, of needing more, sacrificing everything and eventually ending up as bone-thin, wraith-like addicts who sell clothes and household appliances, turn to crime, all to keep up the flow of “dosis,” or packets that cost around 30 cents and provide a high that lasts only a few minutes.
• Leonardo Gorbacz, a national lawmaker who was involved in the study headed by Elisa Carrió, said Argentine government officials estimate 400,000 doses of paco are consumed each day in Argentina.^[4]

References

1. ^ Investigative journalist Kelly Hearn exposes a startling trend in Argentina's slums: a new kind of highly addictive, inexpensive (around 30 cents a hit) cocaine known as "paco." Paco addicts are commonly called "muertos vivos" or undead. Hearn explains that users are "hooked by the first use…sacrificing everything and eventually ending up as bone-thin, wraith-like addicts who sell clothes and household appliances, turn to crime, all to keep up the [high]." [1]
2. ^ "Paco is cheap. It usually goes for about 30 cents a dose, enough for a powerful two-minute high." [2]
3. ^ Yahoo news [3]
4. ^ World & I magazine Argentine Slums Mired in New Drug Problem