FOX POINTS TO NATION'S OWN DRUG PROBLEM

MEXICO CITY - This country, long-focused on the war against top drug lords
and cartels that smuggle narcotics to the United States, must do more to
curb its own fast-rising drug-use and addiction rates, President Vicente
Fox said Saturday.

Two days before he's scheduled to unveil his government's aggressive,
five-year anti-drug strategy, Fox said the new plan will push for improved
drug treatment and prevention programs nationwide and work to impose
tougher punishments for those caught selling drugs on Mexico's streets.

"In the past they talked about drug production and smuggling to the large
market in the United States," Fox said in his weekly radio address. "But
now the problem is hitting much closer to home because it affects our
children, our young people."

For decades dubbed a "transit" country that drugs flowed through on their
way to an insatiable market on America's streets, law enforcement officials
on both sides of the border now agree Mexico is beginning to look more like
a drug "consumer" nation.

The number of Mexicans addicted to hard drugs has skyrocket over the past
decade and addicts have begun congregating in border towns where drugs are
easily available and law enforcement often looks the other way.

Mexican drug use still is well below U.S. levels, but Fox acknowledged it's
rising fast.

He said Mexico's past emphasis on busting up major smuggling gangs that
move drugs across the border has forced smugglers to cultivate a Mexican
market for their products.

"We were so busy focusing on that task that we failed to take care of the
health of our own young people," he said. "That can't happen."