Mexico tackles drug abuse

Mexico tackles drug abuse

Reported June 04, 2009

MEXICAN government officials rarely miss a chance to point to America’s demand for illegal drugs as the cause of their violent struggle with traffickers. But the notion of the country as an innocent victim of geography is increasingly outdated. Although Mexico is still a middleman between Colombian growers and American consumers, it is fast becoming a destination for narcotics in its own right. In the past six years drug use is reckoned to have risen by nearly 30%, and the trend shows no signs of abating. President Felipe Calderón has mainly treated drugs as a national-security issue, but the consequences for public health may be almost as severe.

Mexican consumption began to take off in the mid-1990s. Tight economic conditions and increased government scrutiny of large financial transactions prompted the cartels to shift to payments in kind. Instead of giving cash to local operators on trafficking routes, they would allot them a share of the shipment. The glut of drugs in the country grew further after the September 11th 2001 attacks, when the United States redoubled its border controls.

 

 

Regional gangs then began a marketing campaign to unload large quantities of drugs. Narcotics have a formidable capacity to create their own demand: the greater the supply, the more people are exposed and become addicted. Thus small-time dealers—now thought to number 35,000— started offering free doses to young people outside schools and at parties, aiming to produce a new generation of customers. Consumption by women has grown particularly quickly in recent years, as men press their girlfriends and wives to join them in their use.

Prisons proved to be another lucrative market. Guillermo Zepeda of CIDAC, a think-tank, says four out of five inmates who did not use drugs before their incarceration now start once in jail. “For the wardens, allowing drug use is often the price of peace,” he says. “It reduces the risk of riots.” Once addicted, users often become peddlers too.

Although the problem remains small in comparative terms—Mexico’s rate of cocaine use is one-third that of Argentina, for example—the authorities fear it may begin to spiral out of control. Already, 62% of violent crimes in the country involve drugs or alcohol.

The government has launched a three-tiered prevention programme. To shrink the pool of potential users, it is increasing its anti-drug messages in schools. To identify children at high risk, it has distributed 60,000 questionnaires to students, which inquire about their sense of well-being, family situation, and attitudes and exposure to drugs. Social workers are then dispatched to help the 5-10% that appear most in danger and invite them to visit one of 300 new addiction-prevention centres.

Finally, it is adopting partial decriminalisation. Those found in possession of small quantities of drugs will be invited for treatment, not prosecuted. A third violation will lead to obligatory medical internment. A national addiction survey, due to be published this month, will show whether these policies have begun to slow the incoming tide.