Drug addiction rises in Mexico
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When the dope thugs beat him with a pistol, Rodrigo Sonck decided enough was enough. He cleaned the gashes on his face and went to his father to plead for help: The cocaine life was killing him, writes Ken Ellingwood:
Once mainly a smuggling corridor for drugs heading to the United States, Mexico is grappling with the effects of a fast-rising addiction rate as relatively cheap versions of cocaine and methamphetamine find a market south of the border. Experts say the supply has increased as U.S. enforcement on the border has made it more difficult to move illegal drugs north.
A recent government survey of drug use shows Mexicans are trying drugs, and getting hooked, earlier in life and more frequently. The number of people who said they had tried drugs rose by more than a fourth, to 4.5 million, since the last survey in 2002. More than 460,000 Mexicans are addicted to drugs, a 51% jump from six years ago, according to preliminary results of the survey released last month.
Read the rest of the report on drug addiction in Mexico here, and go to our ‘Mexico Under Siege’ page for more coverage of Mexico’s drug-related problems.
Click here for more posts on Mexico.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City