Cocaine Doesn't Just Transit: Some of It Seeps

MEXICO CITY -- If he could take control of the millions of dollars Mexico
spends each year to combat drug trafficking, Miguel Gonzalez Espinosa would
spend a little less of it on high-tech, heavily armed operations at
airports and along the border, aimed at stopping the flow of drugs from
Colombia on their way to the United States.

Gonzalez, who proudly calls himself a recovering alcoholic, directs a small
drug rehabilitation center in the downtrodden neighborhood that surrounds
the city's Basilica de Guadalupe. He sees firsthand the toll taken by a
less-talked-about, but increasingly damaging problem: the rise in drug
abuse -- especially cocaine and crack -- among Mexican youth. In just the
last two months, his residential treatment center, which relies entirely on
private donations, has taken in 12 new clients and is running above
capacity, with 40 residents.

One of them is Gloria Acevedo, 15, who had been living on the streets for
two years, stealing and working as a prostitute to support her cocaine
habit. Marco Antonio Salazar, 19, arrived stoned after he beat up his
sister and was kicked out by his parents. And an addiction to crack led
Isaac Perez, 22, to quit his job, sell all his belongings and steal cars.
"We are in a drug crisis up to our necks," said Gonzalez, president of the
Fundacion Dr. Sergio Berumen, the residential treatment program named for a
philanthropist who gave seed money for the center. "When traffickers cannot
get their drugs across the border, they sell it here."

Mexico has been recognized for years as a major transit station for drugs.
More than half of the cocaine smuggled into the United States passes
through Mexico, as well as much of the heroin and marijuana.

At a U.N. meeting about the drug trade last summer, President Ernesto
Zedillo characterized his country's crisis as one that is generated by drug
consumer nations, especially the United States. There are new signs,
however, that the number of Mexican consumers is on the rise.

A 1997 report by the Ministry of Health says that in the last six years
cocaine use has quadrupled among Mexicans ages 12 to 19. Among patients at
government-run treatment centers in Mexico City, whose numbers have
increased from 4,500 to 13,500 in the last six years, marijuana remains the
drug of choice for most adolescents, health officials report. But cocaine,
particularly crack, ranked second -- before cheaper choices like glue and
paint thinner.

The government has responded to the problem with increased funding to its
own drug treatment centers. It has also created a public service campaign
called "Live Without Drugs." The campaign includes radio and television
announcements, educational programs in schools and a Web site that answers
questions about drug abuse.

In cities across the country, including Culiacan, Ciudad Victoria, San Luis
Potosi and Hermosillo, the police have proposed a program known as
Operation Backpack, which would allow them to search students for drugs and
weapons, although some parents have expressed reservations. Parents have
started community patrols around school playgrounds and parks.

Compared with the voracious consumption of drugs in the United States,
Mexico's drug problem remains small. But to Gonzalez even one drug-addicted
child is too many. "Every day I see how drugs are destroying young people,"
Gonzalez said.

As in the United States, drug abuse in Mexico is spreading fastest in poor
communities where unemployment is high and education levels are low,
Gonzalez said.

Ms. Acevedo, a flirtatious girl who dyes her hair strawberry blond and
wears sparkly pink lipstick, ran away from a shattered family. She said her
mother, a waitress, and her father, a street vendor, began using drugs when
she was just an infant. Both would stay away from home for days at a time,
leaving her to beg for food from neighbors for herself and her three
younger brothers.

At 11, she said, she began stealing her parents' drugs and hiding in the
cluster of fruit trees in her backyard to get high. "The first time I ever
got high, I thought, this is what life is supposed to be," she said. "I had
found something that would fill the emptiness." She ran away at 12 and
lived in train stations or abandoned offices. Last October she nearly died
from an overdose.

"All I wanted was drugs," she recalled. "Suffering for me was when I didn't
have anything to get to make me high."

When it opened 10 years ago, the Fundacion Dr. Sergio Berumen primarily
served alcoholic adults, who needed a place to dry out so they could go
home to their families. Over the last five years, Gonzalez said, younger
people started coming for help, and they were addicted to drugs, not
alcohol. Today, Gonzalez said, more than 80 percent of the residents are
drug addicts between 13 and 20. The white metal front door is almost always
left open, Gonzalez said. Residents are free to leave anytime they please.
Group meetings are held five times a day for the residents to talk with one
another about their addictions and any other distress.

At a recent meeting, the 19-year-old Salazar spoke from the podium for more
than 15 minutes. This time of year is especially hard for him, he said,
echoing the feelings of many in the room. It hurt, he said, that he could
not celebrate the holidays with his 8-month-old son.

"I want to be with my family," he said. "But I am afraid of what I would do
if someone offered me drugs. "I wonder if I will ever feel ready to go
home."