Byline: Alejandra Labanca
Aug. 12--'Paco' boosts Argentine drug trade Matias Salas tried marijuana when he was 11. By age 17, he smoked pot every day, sniffed cocaine when he could get it and was a regular user of pills. Then, a new drug hit Argentina. "I have never tried anything so addictive in my life. I am no rookie, but this just hit me like a log. I couldn't stop," says Salas, now 20 and one of thousands of working-class youths in that country hooked on smoking paco. Experts say the sudden availability of paco, also known as basuco, is a sign that cocaine is being produced in Argentina. The white crystals, left over from refining coca paste into ...