New Toxics and new poverty: A socila understanding of Freebase Cocaine/Paco in Argentina

Abstract

Included within the field of research on changes in drug use patterns and vulnerability are conditions of emergency related to economic crisis, wars, and political conflict. This study addresses the complex connections between the rapid propagation of freebase cocaine (FBC) - locally known as "pasta base" or "Paco" in Argentina and the normalization of the consequences of Argentina's 2001-2002 political-economic crisis. On the basis of the results of an ethnographic study carried out in three neighborhoods of the Greater Buenos Aires area between 2001 and 2005, this article aims to analyze how changes in the material and social living conditions are interrelated with the high toxicity of FBC/Paco and engender the emerging compulsion of its consumption and deterioration to the bodies, subjectivities, and social activities of active drug users from these shantytowns. By analyzing the changes in transactions directly or indirectly involving drugs - specifically those ranging from cocaine to FBC/Paco - we can argue how structural poverty, "new poverty," is not only associated with the expansion of FBC/Paco but is also shaped by its use, modes of consumption, associated health problems, and sufferings.