News (Media Awareness Project) - Mexico: Wire: Mexico blasts U.S. drug use as corruptinginfluence |
| Title: | Mexico: Wire: Mexico blasts U.S. drug use as corruptinginfluence |
| Published On: | 1997-03-16 |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-08 21:09:14 |
By Timna Tanners
MEXICO CITY(Reuter) Mexico sought to bolster its claim that the United
States is largely to blame for drug trafficking in the Americas by presenting
statistics Friday showing U.S. drug consumption is mammoth compared to
Mexico's.
Only one Mexican has tried an illegal drug for every nine Americans who
have done so at some time, Health Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said,
citing a 1996 MexicanU.S. study.
He spoke at a news conference one day after the House voted to
``decertify'' Mexico as a fully cooperating partner in the war on drugs. The
House vote seeks to overturn President Clinton's certification of Mexico as a
trustworthy ally.
``No country has the right to assume the drug threat is external if they
do not recognize the demand, meaning consumption, is internal and is a
determining factor in the international chain of drug trafficking,'' he said.
``Those that judge do so from the principal illegal drug consuming
country,'' he said of the United States.
In a measure of drug use, the study said, 14 U.S. citizens for every one
Mexican used drugs in the previous month. Instances of marijuana use were 23
times more common in the United States and cocaine use was seven times more
frequent than in Mexico.
The bad influence of its northern neighbor has encouraged Mexico's
growing drug problem, especially in states along the U.S. border, De la
Fuente said.
``The growth of cannabis, the illegal elaboration of methamphetamines and
the traffic of cocaine and other drugs are problems that are importantly
connected to U.S. drug abuse,'' he said, citing a 1996 United Nations report.
A Mexican study showed that 3.9 percent of Mexico's urban population
between 12 and 65 years old had tried an illegal drug once in their lives.
This figure jumped to 5.3 percent in states along the U.S. border, where the
cities of Mexicali, Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are the country's largest
consumers of cocaine.
De la Fuente called on both governments to discuss the bilateral drug
problem in highlevel meetings without political guises, ``to recover our
capacity for dialogue and true international cooperation.''
MEXICO CITY(Reuter) Mexico sought to bolster its claim that the United
States is largely to blame for drug trafficking in the Americas by presenting
statistics Friday showing U.S. drug consumption is mammoth compared to
Mexico's.
Only one Mexican has tried an illegal drug for every nine Americans who
have done so at some time, Health Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said,
citing a 1996 MexicanU.S. study.
He spoke at a news conference one day after the House voted to
``decertify'' Mexico as a fully cooperating partner in the war on drugs. The
House vote seeks to overturn President Clinton's certification of Mexico as a
trustworthy ally.
``No country has the right to assume the drug threat is external if they
do not recognize the demand, meaning consumption, is internal and is a
determining factor in the international chain of drug trafficking,'' he said.
``Those that judge do so from the principal illegal drug consuming
country,'' he said of the United States.
In a measure of drug use, the study said, 14 U.S. citizens for every one
Mexican used drugs in the previous month. Instances of marijuana use were 23
times more common in the United States and cocaine use was seven times more
frequent than in Mexico.
The bad influence of its northern neighbor has encouraged Mexico's
growing drug problem, especially in states along the U.S. border, De la
Fuente said.
``The growth of cannabis, the illegal elaboration of methamphetamines and
the traffic of cocaine and other drugs are problems that are importantly
connected to U.S. drug abuse,'' he said, citing a 1996 United Nations report.
A Mexican study showed that 3.9 percent of Mexico's urban population
between 12 and 65 years old had tried an illegal drug once in their lives.
This figure jumped to 5.3 percent in states along the U.S. border, where the
cities of Mexicali, Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are the country's largest
consumers of cocaine.
De la Fuente called on both governments to discuss the bilateral drug
problem in highlevel meetings without political guises, ``to recover our
capacity for dialogue and true international cooperation.''
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