Vítor Abdala
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - Brazil is a growing consumer market for amphetamines and ecstasy, the so-called synthetic drugs, according to the 2005 World Drug Report, released yesterday (29), in Rio de Janeiro, by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

According to the document, Brazil is currently the largest consumer of ecstasy among the Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and the third largest in all of South America. The drug is used by around 0.2% of the Brazilian population between the ages of 15 and 64.

"Brazil is a country with over 50 million young people, so it is an attractive market for drug dealers. Synthetic drugs are making ever greater inroads in the country. We perceive this in the arrests made in Brazil by the Federal Police and other police forces," said the UNODC representative in Brazil, Giovanni Quaglia.

Translation: David Silberstein