“PACO” DRUG INCREASES IN ARGENTINA

BUENOS AIRES HOSPITALS TRIPLE ATTENTION
TO “PACO” ADDICTS - A CHEAP COCAINE PRODUCT

BUENOS AIRES (AP) - Hospitals in Buenos Aires last year tripled the number of cases dealt with a drug addicted to cheap cocaine paste base drug known as “Paco”. Health Centers had attended in 2008 to 302 people for this addiction, while in 2009 it rose to about a thousand youth consumers of “paco”, authorities said. The online edition of The New York Times published an article describing the “scourge of the poor” to refer to the Paco cocaine paste in Argentina, describing the growing problems facing low-class neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires province and City. “Argentina has one of the highest per-capita rates of cocaine use in the world and a growing problem with synthetic drugs like Ecstasy. Some parts of the country have also been afflicted by the rapid rise of “paco,” a cheap and highly addictive drug that combines small amounts of cocaine residue with toxic chemicals,” it said. But this addiction progresses to other social sectors. “In recent years we began to see more cases of children who consume 'paco', but not only in the lower social strata,” said authorities.

Social Development Minister, María Eugenia Vidal, said “the question of “paco” is part of the increasing problem of addiction which has to do with the fact that many young people do not have projects of life or households or parental protection”. The “Paco”, or pasta base, is one of the most addictive and harmful drugs. It is clearly linked to poverty and marginality. In recent years, this drug started to hurt young people not as low social strata, as it has begun to be consumed by many middle-class youth. However, the consumption of “paco” particularly affects young people in poor villages or slums of Buenos Aires province, which surrounds the City or Federal Capital, the most populous metropolis in the country with around 15 million inhabitants.


Drug addiction is a means of escaping from daily reality and feeling a false sense of bliss. This feeling is short-lived as the ecstasy stuff goes away so quickly. It is better to adopt the method of chanting the Holy Names of God, which frees one from all these material desires and provides continuous happiness.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Supreme Person Krishna being omnipotent is fully present in His Holy Names. Chanting of the Holy Names therefore connects one immediately with Krishna, who is the supreme pleasure principle. Regular meditation on the Holy Names enables one to experience happiness streaming down from the spiritual dimension. This spiritual pleasure is so satisfying that it soon frees one from the craving for perverted mundane pleasure like drugs, alcohol etc. Millions of people all over the world have experienced the purifying potency of the Holy Names of God. Srila Prabhupada propagated the congregational chanting of the Holy Names and saved thousands of young people from a condemned life of drug addiction.

Caitanya Caran das (BE E&TC)
“The Tragedy of Self-Destruction”
“The Spiritual Scientist” - Vol. 1 Issue 16.
Bhaktivedanta Academy for Culture and Education (BACE), Pune
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