The purpose of this survey is to know the “global and major” trends in drug use in Mexico, according to the document. The results of this survey show, among other things, an increase in marijuana use among men and women of all ages and the urgent need to implement prevention programs in some states. 4. How have drug laws affected the country`s prison situation? As researcher Catalina Pérez Correa also pointed out, “. Between 2006 and 2011, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, 136,946 people were arrested for use and 249,629 for drug possession (which may also include a large number of users given the small amounts provided by law to suspect use). That is, in five years there were about 400,000 prisoners for consumption and possession. According to the study by the Center for Economic Research and Education CIDE, “the government of President Felipe Calderón has wasted the resources of law enforcement in cases that do not reduce violence, especially because it has focused on drug users or discreet sellers.” The research was conducted by the Collective of Drug Studies and Law (CESD) and is entitled “(Dis) Proportionality and Crimes Against Health in Mexico”. The researchers show that “80% of convictions for health crimes are not only exaggerated, but have also been imposed on discreet and non-criminal users or sellers who commit acts of violence or other criminal behavior such as drug trafficking or money laundering.” The following table is taken from this study and was prepared by its authors on the basis of the reports of the Office of the Attorney General (2011). 9. What role has Mexican civil society played in the drug debate in the country? January 2013 – Mexico was the only Latin American country to oppose Bolivia`s proposal on the coca leaf.

It was an unexpected move by the newly installed Mexican government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, which called for debates and changes in drug policy. And within the same demographic, the percentage of those who used illicit drugs rose from 7.2% in 2011 to 9.9% in 2016, and last year it rose from 1.5% to 2.7%. In summary, the Ministry of Health (Ssa) points out that Mexico is facing a major public health problem. This problem requires programs and measures that promote a healthy lifestyle. It is important to pay particular attention to the group of young people and women, as surveys show a clear tendency to increase their drug use. The head of Conadic, Gady Zabicky Sirot, stressed that the slogan of this occasion “Let`s talk about drugs” reflects the coherence with the national prevention strategy that the Mexican government is implementing and which is currently in the dialogue phase. On February 13, 2014, Mexico City submitted bills to the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District and the Federal Congress of Mexico to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use. The initiative also aims to decriminalize the possession of small quantities, separate the cannabis market from other illegal markets, and reduce the harm caused by drugs by introducing a harm reduction information system. In this way, the initiative aims to consider health protection, prevention and treatment as axes of public order, rather than police prosecution of drug users. The initiative, which will be introduced in the federal Congress, proposes to reform certain federal laws to increase legal possession of cannabis from 5 to 30 grams, allow medical prescription of cannabis, and decentralize decision-making power over drug policy so that it is in the hands of the states. – This is the text of the ALDF initiative on cannabis, and it is the text of the ALDF initiative before the Congress of the Union. The following sections contain information on substances whose non-medical or scientific use is prohibited in our country (illegal drugs) and which are subject to the control of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

These include marijuana, opioids (opium, heroin, morphine, fentanyl and others), cocaine, amphetamine-type drugs (amphetamines, methamphetamines and ecstasy), hallucinogens and others. Drug regulation is seen as a progressive response to the punishment of psychoactive substance use by people over the age of 18, as well as a viable and less aggressive alternative to the results of the so-called war on drugs and its number of tens of thousands of people killed, disappeared and displaced by violence. In 1940, the last year of his term as president, Lázaro Cárdenas issued a federal decree on drug addiction that eliminated various criminal decrees that considered the use, possession and sale of drugs a crime. At the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (Antigua, Guatemala, 4-6 June 2013), the Mexican delegation stressed the need to prevent crime and consumption and not to criminalize consumers “in certain cases”. Mexico was part of the group of countries that proposed the holding of an extraordinary assembly in 2014 to continue the dialogue on the drug problem and its management, which was adopted unanimously at the end of the assembly. The idea of Mexico culminated a few years later, in 1998, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs. Unfortunately, what finally emerged from this House was a reaffirmation of the prohibitionist approach and the rigidity of current policy, exactly what Mexico had questioned from the outset. However, during the conference process, Mexico and Colombia in particular were able to express their frustration at the imbalances inherent in the international drug control system, and several of the “responsibilities of the North” became important elements of the 1998 UNGASS Political Declaration and Plan of Action, such as demand reduction, money laundering, precursor chemicals, synthetic drugs and financing of alternative developments.

According to a July 2013 CICAD document, this institution is working in collaboration with the Center for Judicial Innovation on a diagnostic study conducted by the Monterrey Drug Treatment Court, Nuevo León. For more information about Mexico`s drug courts and the controversy surrounding them, check out this article. Mexican drug legislation has led to two main trends, the first being the increase in the prison population and the second being the criminalization of drug users and small-scale dealers. This is partly due to the fact that the maximum quantity set by law for consumption is less than the quantity transported by an average consumer. The tightening of penalties for drug-related offences has led to a significant increase in the general prison population and in the number of persons detained without penalty. The majority of prisoners for drug-related offences belong to poor and marginalized sections of society with little or no education. In addition, 50% of inmates were arrested for drug-related offences because they owned property with a very low total value of less than $100. You can read more about this in the Mexico chapter of the WOLA and TNI study on drugs and prisons. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the female population in prisons, with the main reason for their imprisonment being drug-related crime. According to the Report Women, Drug Crimes and Prison Systems in Latin America published by the International Consortium on Drug Policy (IDPC), which describes the significant increase in the female prison population in the region, 30 to 60 percent of women in prison are charged with drug-related offenses in Mexico.

a figure that rises to 75-80% in the border region with the United States.