DRUGS IN MEXICO

REYNOSA — Officials here don’t expect this impoverished border city to become a tie-dyed, Amsterdam-like haven for throngs of stoned American tourists.

In fact, officials on both sides of the Rio Grande agree the region will likely remain unaffected by a new law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of all major narcotics. The law, quietly enacted last week in Mexico City, means anyone caught with three or four marijuana joints or about four lines worth of cocaine can no longer be arrested, fined or jailed.

Instead, police will show them to the nearest rehab center and encourage them to get clean.

Even with an overwhelming availability of drugs on Reynosa’s streets, health officials don’t predict a surge in substance abuse by locals, who seldom faced charges for minor drug use before the new law.

Addiction experts said the government is well equipped to deal with larger numbers of people seeking drug abuse treatment. In the past year, the Tamaulipas ministry of health opened 16 rehab clinics in the state, including three in the Reynosa area.

“We are obviously not going to agree (with the law), said Elisa Alba Niño, regional director for Prevencion y Control de Adicciones (Addiction Prevention and Control), a division of Mexico’s Health Ministry. “But this situation is not new,” she said in Spanish.

The department, Niño said, is accustomed to treating addicts who are referred there by cops. Many leave immediately after their encounter with police, so the centers are seldom overcrowded.

“A lot of them didn’t even realize they were committing a crime,” Niño said of some drug addicts. “It’s important for people to realize the real reason that consuming drugs is wrong — because they complicate lives.”

The adoption of the new law has been so hushed, even some law enforcement officials aren’t aware of the change.

“This just isn’t something we’re familiar with,” Reynosa police official Victor Hugo Rodriguez said in Spanish. He declined to provide further comment on the topic.

REHABILITATION
Drug addicts come and go each week at Grupo Despertar, the Reynosa branch of Drogadictos Anonimos (Drug Addicts Anonymous).

Many are escorted there by police who caught them with a bag of cocaine, a marijuana joint or a stash of Ecstasy tablets. Most of them leave once they realize the cops won’t be back to check on them.

“People only change if they want to change,” branch director Francisco Hernandez said in Spanish. “A lot of them come because they are cornered by the circumstances.”

The center will probably need to admit slightly more people than it did before, Hernandez said. But for now, there’s plenty of space.

There are 31 branches within Mexico and three in the United States, Hernandez said. The center in Reynosa, which was established in 1993, is currently at about 70 percent capacity — the facility can house up to 80 men.

“If we can’t fit them here, there are other places,” Hernandez said. “It may even be better for them to get away from their old environment.”

At Grupo Despertar, the men live together in dormitories and attempt to quit their addictions without the help of prescribed medication to lessen the effects of withdrawal. Those who wish to enter the center’s three-month program are prohibited from leaving the premises or visiting with their families more than once a month. Treatment consists of group therapy sessions, sporting activities and chores at the facility’s bakery.

“We hope they’ll be able to reintegrate into society this way, maybe even get a job with their new skills,” said Jorge Rodriguez, who runs the Torreon branch of Drogadictos Anonimos. “We hope the unity we provide can help people who are traumatized and hurt,” he said in Spanish.

Addiction experts say that although there will likely be an initial surge in people trying drugs for the first time, the country’s addiction problem will likely not grow.

“He who wants to get drugged up doesn’t need permission,” said Arturo Juarez, who is in charge of the Monterrey center of Drogadictos Anonimos. “Permission or no permission, all we can do is prevent drug use by informing people,” he said in Spanish.

ACROSS THE BORDER
Experts on this side of the Rio Grande are not expecting big changes, either.

Although underage American drinkers flocked to northern Mexico as recently as the late ‘90s seeking a penalty-free chance to imbibe, the country’s bloody drug war has scared many away.

“There is the risk that people will get to Mexico and use drugs and come back,” said Fito Mercado, director of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program in McAllen. “But that chance is decreased because of all the fear of violence.”

Aneysa Moreno, a freshman at the University of Texas-Pan American, said that although she expects some friends her age will take advantage of the law, she’s likely going to stay away from Mexico.

“It’s like when people go to Amsterdam, or when people go to Mexico to drink when they’re too young,” Moreno said. “Some kids will go, but I’m scared.”

But despite the fear of violence, Mike McCarthy is certain young people will flock to Mexico to try new drugs.
“Of course people are going to go,” the UTPA sophomore said. “People are going to find a way.”

Alejandro Mijares, assistant director of Azteca Mexico Tours in McAllen, said the true test of that will come in March, when hordes of American college students travel south for spring break.

“It even happens at South Padre Island,” Mijares said in Spanish. “There are always a lot of problems with alcohol.”

Still, Mijares said that American drug consumption and drug-related violence at tourist destinations will likely remain unaltered since people more often use drugs in the United States than Mexico.

Mijares doubts Americans will hesitate to visit Mexican hotspots as a result of the law, because most tourism destinations are considered relatively safe.

“The times are changing at an alarming rate,” he said. “But if people stay in tourist zones, they will not be affected.”