Another fine mess

With the same logic by which the Calderón Administration claims that a soaring homicide rate is proof that they are creating a more secure Mexico, I guess the Administration is proving equally successful in their efforts to control addictions.

Cocaine consumption in Mexico has doubled in the last six years, and use of other illicit drugs, including marijuana, has also increased, said Mexican Secretary of Health, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos.

Meeting with foreign correspondents in Mexico City, Córdova Villalobos admitted that illegal drug consumption has increased in recent years despite the uphill struggle of the government of President Felipe Calderón to eradicate drug gangs.

However, he stressed that figures could climb if there was not a fight against drug traffickers.

“Cocaine consumption has doubled in the last six years, while the amount of the drugs available have risen,”  Cordova told reporters in Mexico City.  Cocaine users represent 2.5 percent of Mexico’s total populaton (107 million people), he said.

“It seems like a lot, but isn’t all that much. The figure was 1.25 percent, and is now 2.5 percent.  Marijuana consumption also rose, from 2.4 percent to 4.2 percent of the population, the Secretary of Health said, neglecting to specify the amount of drugs actually used.

Of course, I want to be snarky about this, but considering any use, even casual, and occasional use of cocaine or marijuana is included in these figures, Mexicans still have a long, long way to go to catch up to even a fraction of the use by their northern neighbors, and while I might even believe Dr. Cordova when he claims the figures “could” climb if not for the drug war, as the government’s top public health official, he might want to ask himself what the effect on the overall national health would be if there was no drug war… trading off perhaps another percentage point or two of Mexicans needing treatment for addictions, against the expensive emergency room treatments for traumatic gunshot wounds.