Explosion of Domestic Heroin Use Sign of Mexico's Growing Role in Trade Michael Lohmuller - InSight Crime
go to original April 25, 2014

A Mexican drug enforcement agent shows how a poppy is cut to extract the sap used to make opium and heroin in a field in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico. (Matias Recart/AFP)

Heroin consumption has risen dramatically in Mexico, mirroring trends in US demand for a drug that is increasingly locally produced and whose production and movement is often overseen by Mexican cartels.

Figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Mexican government indicate that more Mexicans, especially young people, are using heroin, reported Animal Politico. Between 2008 and 2011, Mexico's Secretary of Health documented a 67 percent growth in heroin consumption among Mexican citizens between 12 and 65 years of age. The subgroup with the most profound increase in abuse was those aged 26 to 34, which saw a 107 percent increase over the period.

These figures correspond with those of the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), which noted a 70 percent rise of heroin use in Mexico between 2008 and 2012, reported Animal Politico.

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