By IANS
Monterrey(Mexico) : A new report on the illegal narcotics market in Mexico says that the country has changed from being a transit for the underground narcotics trade to a primary consumer, reports the Spanish news agency EFE.
Mexico's market for illegal drugs, in which about 250,000 people are active participants, has soared to some US$10 billion in sales per year, according to the governor of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, Jose Natividad Gonzalez.
"The market for drugs in our country easily surpasses $10 billion annually," Gonzalez said, citing a study by Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM).
The governor divulged the results of the Front Against Addictions' annual report at an event attended by health authorities led by Carlos Rodriguez, head of the National Council Against Addictions, or Conadic.
Nuevo Leon health secretary Gilberto Montiel said that the market reflects "notable changes in the dynamic of supply for addictions."
"Mexico is no longer a country that channels drugs to another destination but has become a consumer, with the highest consumption in the northern region," Montiel said.
The state health authority noted another significant change as well – instead of using just one type of drug the nation has begun using several drugs.
For his part, the head of Conadic pointed to the growth and new consumer habits for drugs nationwide.
"The consumption of marijuana remains stable in the country, with a 30 percent share of market," Rodriguez said.
He added that the fastest growing drug over the past seven years and which has taken 20 percent of the market is crack, a derivative of cocaine.
"The use of cocaine since 2000 has grown alarmingly, by approximately 56 percent," the Conadic official said.