Substance Abuse in Mexico
By: Kevin • Essay • 1,003 Words • January 20, 2010 • 845 Views
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there are pretty much 2 different categories of pharmaceuticals that are available in Mexico. there are the kind of drugs that require a prescription in the United States like antibiotics, cardiac drugs, birth control pills. these you can get over the counter in Mexico at a price much lower than u would pay in the US. then there are the controlled substances like Valium, Rohypnol, things like that, which you would need a prescription for in Mexico. however, obtaining a prescription is ridiculously easy. there are pretty much people just wandering the streets advertising for doctor's offices who will give you a prescriptoion cheap with no physical whatsoever. prices vary by doctor, but you could get a 90 day supply of ruffies for 100 bucks if u wanted to. and as long as u have a prescription with your name on it u can legally bring it back to the us. there are many many doctor's offices and pharmacies in MExico (you can walk a mile down the road and pass by 10 doctors offices) that are just sham operations, the office has no medical equipment inside, usually just a reception area and another office where the prescriptions are doled out. people will buy pharmaceuticals in Mexico because of the extreme price difference, Mexico has been described as having some of the best pharmaceutical prices in the world, especially
compared to the US. and
the fact that you can pretty much ask for anything you want and they will give you a prescription for it. however, there are a lot of dangers to buying prescriptions from unreliable sources and without the supervision of a physician. often times they will sell drugs that are expired or old, or that are contaminated; its doubtful that they handle or store the medication properly, or that are completely counterfeit. and even if u get the drugs you ask for, often times medication can cause different side affects in people and without a physician around you can put yourself in danger of a lot of health risks.
the average frequency of the use of marijuana among the urban populations of mexico from 12 to 65 years of age is about 5.3%. the cities with the highest consumption of marijuana are Tijuana (14.7%), Ciudad Juarez (9.2), Guadalajara (7.5%), Mexico City (7.3%), so u know the northern
and central regions of mexico hav reported higher levels of marijuana use. on average marijuana is two times as frequent in the north than the south. marijuana is the main drug consumed by almost all age groups in Mexico, with consumption usually being higher in males than in females. for example, marijuana use in tijuana can be as high as 28 % of males, and only about 1% of the females. on average though, about 14% of males are smokers, and only about 7 percent of females. among children aged 12-17 who do not go to school or live with their families, they are almost 4 times more likely to smoke than the student population. i was very surprised while iw as doing my research at how little information was available on marijuana use in mexico. there was plenty on the politics of it and us-mexico relations with respect to drugs and drug use, but looking solely at mexico and its drug consumption, there was not as much information as i expected. which i believe is due to the fact that there are so few resources available to do research of that kind. the same goes for alcohol abuse, they