Pubdate: Thu, 22 Nov 2001
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2001 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Julie Watson, The Associated Press

MEXICO BATTLES ITS BORDER TOWN DRUG ABUSE

TIJUANA, Mexico -- With a vial of crack cocaine teetering between her 
fingers, a glassy-eyed woman pauses while rummaging through a pile of trash 
near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nearby, a man in his 20s sits on the curb behind a parked pickup and lights 
a vial with a tiny white rock inside. A police car passes as he inhales. A 
forgotten hypodermic needle rests on the truck's tire.

Others shuffle by, their clothes and faces dirty as they awaken on a recent 
midmorning from sidewalks, abandoned houses and cars. Several approach an 
American reporter and photographer, wondering if they are potential 
customers for their goods -- crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

"Looking for anything special?" they ask in broken English.

This is the heart of Tijuana's drug district -- the street called Ni- os 
Heroes, or Child Heroes, a noble name for a place where Mexico's youth 
waste away smoking and shooting up on the curbs as traffic passes by.

Long a transit country where drugs passed through to an insatiable U.S. 
market, Mexico has seen addictions to hard drugs skyrocket over the past 
decade.

Now, officials fear tightened U.S. border security in the aftermath of the 
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may exacerbate the problem as smugglers try to 
sell their undelivered loads locally.

Mexican cities along the U.S. border already lead the country's drug use as 
traffickers pay their transporters in drugs rather than money.

Tijuana has the highest consumption of illegal drugs in the country -- 
three times the national average, according to the government. The border 
cities of Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros are close behind.

Recovered heroin addict Jose Luis Avalos, who runs a drug rehabilitation 
center in Tijuana, said the longer the U.S. government seals the border, 
the more dealers will be looking to the domestic market as an alternative.

Drug rehabilitation centers have grown rapidly in Tijuana.

Avalos' group, the Integral Recovery Center for Alcoholic and Drug Addicts, 
is considered among the best. State human rights prosecutor Raul Ramirez 
said abuses abound at some other centers. There have been cases of addicts 
being beaten to death, chained to walls and denied food in the name of 
discipline.

Ramirez blames the government for not doing enough for addicts. The failure 
to clean up corruption has fueled the problem, he said.

"The police know where the drugs are being produced, where the heroin, the 
cocaine are being distributed. They go by each week and get paid 
themselves," Ramirez said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth