PRESIDENT SAYS MEXICO HAS IGNORED ITS RISING DRUG-USE RATES TOO LONG 2002-11-03

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico, long-focused on the war against drug lords and
cartels that smuggle narcotics to the United States, must do more to curb
its own fast-rising drug-use, President Vicente Fox said Saturday. Two days
before he is scheduled to unveil a five-year anti-drug strategy, Fox said
the new plan will push for improved drug treatment and prevention programs
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."

Mexican drug use is still well below U.S. levels, but Fox acknowledged that
it is 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."

Fox's administration has been responsible for the arrest of several
high-profile kingpins this year, including Benjamin Arellano Felix, the
alleged leader of the Arellano Felix smuggling gang.

Fox took a call on the show from Hugo Ernesto Garcia, a 20-year-old who
said drug dealers "deliver to your house like pizza."