Synthetic drugs: Costa Rica's new nightmare.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
"Pink cocaine," "cat," "K2," "spice"--those are some of the names for Costa Rica's new nightmare: synthetic drugs. Their use among adolescents and young adults is spiraling in this Central American nation, adding a new security and public health issue to the already worrisome level of criminal activities derived from drug trafficking (NotiCen, June 16, 2016, Sept. 8, 2016, March 16, 2017).
Costa Rica is caught, as are its neighbors, in the northbound flow of drugs destined mainly for the US and in lesser volumes to European destinations. With that flow comes drug-related violence. Territorial gang wars--including daily executions by hitmen, and bajonazos, as robberies of an organization's drugs by a rival group are known--are being waged throughout Central America, particularly in the notoriously violent Northern Triangle that encompasses El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (NotiCen, March 24, 2016, March 31, 2016, Jan. 26, 2017).
Organized crime, mostly narcotics activities, for the 2010-2015 period took homicides in Costa Rica from an average of 527 per year to a record high of 553. Then 2016 raised the ceiling to an unprecedented 580 killings. Between Jan. 1 and May 10, 2017, Costa Rica saw 169 murders.
Some drugs stay in the area
In addition to being the corridor for the cocaine produced in South America and increasingly, for the marijuana grown in Jamaica, the Central American isthmus is increasingly turning into an area for storage and re-shipment. As in other countries along the way, portions of the drug loads remain in Costa Rica, since the local criminal teams working for international networks--guaranteeing transport, storage infrastructure, and re-shipment--are paid in kind, thus promoting the expansion of the local market.
In this scenario, designer drugs--as the more harmful, synthetic varieties of drugs are known--are gaining ground, especially among the young.
Designer drugs include amphetamines and methamphetamines, Ecstasy (also known as molly), pink cocaine, and K2 ("Spice") and come from places as diverse as Canada, Mexico, and China. Users gather at megafiestas (mega-parties) and barras libres (open bars) where alcohol and drugs are mixed in highly dangerous, sometimes lethal, combinations.
According to local experts, K2, which originated in China, is 10 times more powerful than natural marijuana, and its effects include a rise in blood pressure as well as in body temperature, which in some cases makes users take off...
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