Junkies frequent hundreds of sales points dotted around Colombia's second city, which has become the epicenter of the domestic drug trade
Drug addicts smoke basuco, a highly addictive drug consisting of low-grade cocaine mixed with coca paste and other substances, in downtown Medellin, Colombia, on February 28, 2022. Three decades after Pablo Escobar's shot body was left on a Medellin rooftop, drug trafficking continues and, at present, markets for flavored cocaine, local crack, pharmaceutical drugs and ketamine-based hallucinogens are rife for in his hometown. (Credits: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP)
MedellĂn, Colombia: Three decades after cartel boss Pablo Escobar was shot dead by police on a rooftop in Medellin, the very city he had sought to uplift with drug money is being ravaged by it.
Junkies frequent hundreds of sales points dotted around Colombia's second city, which has become the epicenter of the domestic drug trade.
"Easy access? Yes, absolutely. In Medellin you can find it anywhere. Even on the floor you find drugs," Manue Morales, an out-of-work engineer and chronic user of "basuco"—the cheapest drug on the market—told AFP.
Basuco is derived from the coca leaf also used to make cocaine, and mixed with other low-grade substances.