Sao Paulo's Drug War Takes Surreal Turn: Dom Phillips

What began in early January as a heavy-handed police operation to clean up an area of downtown Sao Paulo has sparked an impassioned debate about drug policy and urban regeneration in South America's biggest city -- with some strange twists and turns.

Sao Paulo's ornate old city center was once one of its most desirable addresses. But in recent decades it became notorious for crime, drug addiction, homelessness and prostitution. Nowhere was the change more apparent than in the warren of narrow streets and alleys where for more than a decade crack has been openly sold and consumed: an area known as "Cracolandia," or Crackland.