Mexico Drug Use Soars

by Diego Cevallos

(IPS) MEXICO CITY -- He opens his rucksack and offers "mota" (marijuana), "dona blanca" (cocaine) or "tachas" (psychotropic pills). "What do you want? But hurry, other people are waiting," says Javier. Although he is just 17, his premature wrinkles, gauntness and the bags under his eyes make him look much older.

Javier is one of the hundreds of small-time dealers, or "burreros," peddling their wares in the Mexican capital. He plies his trade from the back of an old motorcycle after contacting his clients by cell-phone or meeting them in person in front of a certain candy shop.

"Business is ok, you sell something everyday," says Javier, sitting on his motorcycle. "What I like is to mix dona blanca and mota," he adds, exhibiting his merchandise. Then, annoyed by so many questions, he lowers the visor on his helmet and takes off.

His clients in the wealthy residential area where he does his business are executives, housewives and high school and university students. He sells not only to make money, but to have access to drugs for his own use.

Statistics from the attorney general's office show that small-scale drug sales grew more than 700 percent between 2001 and 2004. So far this year, over 5,000 people have been arrested for drug dealing in the city.

"There has been an explosion of drug sales in the capital, which indicates that the current drug policies are a failure," says Javier Oliva, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

"Drugs are cheaper today and many young people, especially those who are unemployed, find their 'niche' in consuming and selling them," the expert remarks to IPS.

According to the Mexico City police, the amount of drugs available in the capital has soared since 2001, as has the number of people selling and using them.

There are at least 2,100 small legal businesses, many of which are located near schools, that also sell drugs on the side, the police report.

Observers note that after security along the U.S. border was beefed up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, a much greater proportion of the drugs that used to be smuggled across the border now circulates in Mexico.

Domestic sales of drugs have grown so much that the government of Vicente Fox considers the phenomenon a "national security problem," said Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca.

Oliva says that one of the worst problems of the growing internal market is that drug cartels no longer pay their small-time dealers "in cash but in kind, which means their contacts on the street are now mainly addicts themselves."

"We see teenage drug abusers selling drugs to their school-mates, which reflects a society that is fast losing its sense of cohesion and values," he adds.

"The question is how these youngsters are going to raise their children in the future, based on what values. That is a big problem," says Oliva.

Javier is just one of the youngsters who have been drawn into the drug trade. Five percent of those arrested for selling drugs in the capital are under 18.

These young dealers, who sell small quantities of marijuana, cocaine and other substances for between three and $20, mainly come from poor families. If they are detained by the police and are found guilty, they face prison sentences of four to 16 years.

"Consumption may have gone up, but what really worries us is that the majority of arrests of supposed dealers involve poor youths who probably are mainly users," Ricardo Sola, with the non-governmental organization Convive, which advocates the legalization of drug consumption, comments to IPS.

Under Mexican law, no charges are brought against a first-time offender detained for possession of a quantity of drug considered to be for personal use, and repeat offenders found in possession of small quantities of drugs are committed to treatment centers.

An estimated 300,000 of Mexico's 104 million people are somehow involved in the production, sale or distribution of drugs.

In a report released in March, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) stated that the rise in small-time drug dealing in Mexico is alarming.

The agency reported that drug cartels are increasingly interested in creating a strong internal market in Mexico and are no longer so heavily focused on smuggling drugs into the United States.

The INCB observed a marked rise in drug use in Mexico, especially among women.

In 2004, an estimated 655 tons of drugs were trafficked in North America -- Canada, the United States and Mexico -- but only 40.8 tons were seized, including 21 in Mexico, according to the UN agency.

Studies show that drug traffickers in Mexico supply 70 percent of the cocaine and nearly one third of the marijuana consumed in the United States, the world's biggest market for illegal drugs.

The latest national report on drug abuse carried out in Mexico by the Secretariat of Health and National Institute of Statistics and Informatics indicates that between 1993 and 2002, the proportion of people between the ages of 12 and 65 who said they had tried illegal drugs at some time in their lives rose from 3.9 to 5.03 percent.

Although the levels of consumption are still low, they are growing fast, says Oliva.

In 2001, the Fox administration adopted various measures to crack down on small-time drug dealers and carry out prevention efforts in schools.

Mexico is applying "an integral and effective strategy" against the production, trafficking and consumption of drugs, the president has stated.

But Oliva believes that the terms "integral and effective" are hollow, because the evidence shows that the drug problem in Mexico is getting worse, and not only in terms of a rise in drug abuse, but of the growing culture of violence. Some 300 drug-related murders have been reported so far this year in the Mexican-U.S. border region.