On Monday, drug traffickers in Rio had 93 bags of cocaine seized by police, according to Brazilian newspaper O Globo. What made these bags stand out was that each had a label attached with the Olympic rings, the “Rio 2016” logo and an odd, but thoughtful caution to use it away from children — “use longe das crianças.” Police also reportedly seized 23 bags of crack cocaine and some .40 caliber ammo.
Rio drug dealers tried to sell bags of cocaine with the Olympic logo on them
Rio cocaine dealers now using the Olympic logo, plus the warning "don't use near children," which is very thoughtful pic.twitter.com/8M0e551eej
— Alex Cuadros (@alexcuadros) July 26, 2016
It’s easy to see a story like that and chuckle at the absurdity of drug dealers selling bags of cocaine and making it look like an official Olympic product (don’t do that, by the way), either to fool tourists, exploits local addicts or to mock the Olympics. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s yet another sobering look at what goes on beyond the pageantry. USA Today recently published a story on the “Cracklands,” an area not far from where the opening ceremony will take place. It’s where the inhabitants are “happy” the Games are in Rio, because it means they can make money from the scraps tourists leave behind — money that will then be used to buy drugs, much like the ones seized in the photo above.
Stories like this are more check marks into everything that’s gone wrong leading up to the Games (so far), including police kidnapping and robbing a jiu-jitsu fighter from New Zealand.
(h/t Huffpost Brazil)
