In interview with The ObserverWhen asked about how he sees the situation with respect to these substances in the events that mark the season, he questioned: “Where they are asking them to sell more water so they can consume calmly? It is a confusing message. We don’t want there to be traffic but we tell them to sell mineral water so they can drink safely”he ironized.
When asked what he was referring to and if he was insinuating that the sale of water at those dances should be cut off, Pioli limited himself to saying that it was a “personal opinion” and that he would not make any further statements on the matter.
Despite the fact that the consumption of MDMA crystals, LSD and other substances is a reality at parties, the police have few powers to stop marketing on the site. Part of this is due to the fact that a police officer cannot establish the limit between which person brought pills for their own consumption and which one may be selling in the environment.
Seizure is possible at the supplier level – or upon entry into the country, since these products are often made in laboratories in other countries. An example in Maldonado took place with the so-called Operation Harp, when following a homicide in La Capuera on the night of May 7, the police seized 2,486 LSD stamps from a house, 8,820 kilograms of cocaine, 63 grams of MDMA crystals and 567 grams of marijuana bud.
The need for water to offset the effects of drugs and the price at which it is sold at dances is a long-standing issue that does not escape administrations. This Tuesday, for example, the Music On party in Punta del Este was selling the bottles for $400, as confirmed The Observer with his assistants.
Months ago, the head of the National Drug Board, Daniel Radio, announced that the body would bring a clear protocol to the Congress of Mayors for the municipalities to demand that the organizers incorporate “bilge tents”, that refers to free zones of sale and consumption, with first aid and identification of poisoning and free hydration stations, among others.
“It must be mandatory that there be water for everyone and not just bottles that sell for $400,” Radio insisted again at the end of December in dialogue with El País, after the pitched battle at the La China dance hall, in Montevideo, weeks after the death of a 28-year-old man from the consumption of a Ecstasy pill with EA Sports design.
In 2018, after the death of a 22-year-old girl from an overdose at a party in the country of Atlántida, the then head of the JND, Diego Olivera, acknowledged that despite the protocols “There is no explicit obligation of free access to drinking water.” The Frente Amplio leader was already announcing it as a measure to be included in a bill dealt with by the Health Commission of the House of Representatives.
Before that, in April 2016, the death of eight young people –one of them Uruguayan– due to “polydrug use” at the Time Warp party in Argentina sparked controversy and led the organizers of the event to court. At that time, the defense focused on the fact that the responsibility should lie with drug trafficking.
Differences between drug outlets in Maldonado compared to Montevideo
The Maldonado Police Chief stressed that year after year the number of people accused and convicted of drug trafficking has been increasing.
“Maldonado does not escape the urban reality of Uruguay,” Pioli told The Observer regarding the consumption of base paste in the neighborhoods. However, the police chief marked differences between the Fernandez drug outlets and those of Montevideo, given that the capital “has another architectural and urban reality” than the jurisdiction he is in charge of.
“In certain neighborhoods of the city of Montevideo you have many abandoned farms, where sometimes it is easier to act,” he said. “The conformation of the city is different in Maldonado, it is much more residential, you have your children who build in the background, your cousins in front, there are neighborhoods that have been built like this. There is always someone in the house, ”she analyzed.
“It’s not like in Montevideo, where an owner without heirs dies, the building is left with no one, four or five get in and it becomes a mouth when they decide to sell. They run out of light, they run out of water, now there is a decree that enables the Fire Department to declare the house uninhabitable. These types of situations in Maldonado are very rare, because generally the type of construction is familiar, ”said Pioli, appointed during the Jorge Larrañaga administration and with whom he was close.
“There is always someone here. One woman remains, the son, the cousin who lives next door. And evict him for the street… you have to give him a home. And the Mides (Ministry of Social Development) here is one of the institutions that is running from behind, ”she concluded.
