Ecstasy Lands Brazilian Elite in Jail

University-educated clubbers dominate new crop of drug dealers

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 14, 2009 6:26 PM CST

(Newser) – Brazil’s battle against the rising use of Ecstasy has shifted from the slums to the upscale suburbs, the New York Times reports. Now university-educated “playboys” are targets of drug enforcement officials out to stop dealing in the pulsing rave scene. Last week, federal police officers arrested and charged 55 people, many from posh Rio de Janeiro, for smuggling Ecstasy.

Offenders often bribe officials for lighter charges. “The playboys think since they have money they are above the law and that nothing will affect them,” said one jailed convert. But those who serve time—many likely innocent, but unwilling to pay police—can end up turning to crime. “I was treated like a hardcore criminal and put in jail together with killers, kidnappers, you name it," one wealthy playboy said.

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Brazilian police have singled out raves and clubs, as well as top-flight universities, in extensive undercover operations with headline-grabbing names like Operation Playboy and Operation Dancing. (Shutter Stock)

Army soldiers frisk a man at the Muquico slum in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, May 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

In Brazil, rising Ecstasy use is drawing a new class of educated young people into the cross hairs of drug enforcement in South America’s largest country. (Shutter Stock)

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Consumers and Ecstasy dealers come from a higher socio-economic background. From the police's perspective, apprehending these individuals becomes more interesting because it will open the door to corruption. - Cristiano Maronna, criminal lawyer

Their parents have money, but don’t have the least idea what their kids are doing. - Luiz Carlos Magno, chief of the Narcotics Department of the São Paulo state police, on Brazil's wave of wealthy drug dealers

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Ecstasy Lands Brazilian Elite in Jail