NCJ Number
183809
Editor(s)
Haydee Rosovsky
Date Published
June 1999
Length
141 pages
Annotation
This report provides a comprehensive, objective, and updated overview of illegal drug use and abuse in Mexico, along with the responses of the Mexican government in attempting to counter the drug problem.
Abstract
The report contains information produced by various institutions and agencies that perform studies of high scientific quality. Section I discusses the diagnosis and trends of drug use in Mexico, presenting available data on illegal substance use and its trends in various populations, based on methodological strategies. The first chapter in this section discusses the nature of information and methodological issues, as well as the institutions that collect and analyze the data. Another chapter in this section presents the main findings of the National Household Survey on Addictions conducted in 1998; drug use prevalence in Mexico is presented by age groups and gender, including the main regional variances and trends observed between 1988 and 1998. A chapter provides information derived from the Student Population Surveys conducted during the 1976-97 period, allowing for estimated changes in substance use among teenagers in schools. Other chapters in Section I present information from several information systems and from studies on special, difficult-to-access, or high-risk populations. The remaining two chapters in the section present data on the drug use status in Mexico within the international context and provide conclusions regarding the main challenges faced by Mexico in dealing with the impact of drug use on Mexican society. Section II describes Mexico's responses to drug use. These responses include efforts to reduce the demand for drug use through the health sector. Further, the addiction prevention and control program is described, along with efforts in research, prevention, treatment, sensitization, education, training, and normativeness. The concluding two chapters propose action coordination and evaluation mechanisms at various governmental levels, as well as the development of new efforts to address the Nation's drug problems. Extensive tables and figures and appended description and findings from the third National Household Survey on Addictions for 1998