Managing la malilla: Exploring drug treatment experiences among injection drug users in Tijuana, Mexico, and their implications for drug law reform

Abstract

Background In August 2009, Mexico reformed its drug laws and decriminalized small quantities of drugs for personal use; offenders caught three times will be mandated to enter drug treatment. However, little is known about the quality or effectiveness of drug treatment programs in Mexico. We examined injection drug users’ (IDUs) experiences in drug treatment in Tijuana, Mexico, with the goal of informing program planning and policy. Methods We examined qualitative and quantitative data from Proyecto El Cuete, a multi-phased research study on HIV risk among IDUs in Tijuana. Phase I consisted of 20 in-depth interviews and Phase II employed respondent-driven sampling to recruit 222 IDUs for a quantitative survey. We also reviewed national drug policy documents, surveillance data, and media reports to situate drug users’ experiences within the broader sociopolitical context. Results Participants in the qualitative study were 50% male with a mean age of 32; most injected heroin (85.0%) and methamphetamine (60.0%). The quantitative sample was 91.4% male with a mean age of 35; 98.2% injected heroin and 83.7% injected heroin and methamphetamine together. The majority of participants reported receiving treatment: residential treatment was most common, followed by methadone; other types of services were infrequently reported. Participants’ perceptions of program acceptability and effectiveness were mixed. Mistreatment emerged as a theme in the qualitative interviews and was reported by 21.6% of Phase II participants, primarily physical (72.0%) and verbal (52.0%) abuse. Conclusions Our results point to the need for political, economic, and social investment in the drug treatment system before offenders are sentenced to treatment under the revised national drug law. Resources are needed to strengthen program quality and ensure accountability. The public health impact of the new legislation that attempts to bring drug treatment to the forefront of national drug policy should be systematically evaluated.

Cigarette Smoking and Quit Attempts Among Injection Drug Users in Tijuana, Mexico

“…Given Mexico's discriminatory environment in which the rule of law is often ignored for IDUs, the enactment of the new drug policy might not lead to actual increases in treatment services for drug users. Furthermore, a recent study found significant variability in the quality of drug treatment programs in northern Mexico (Syvertsen et al, 2010). Integration of cigarette smoking cessation treatment might not be effective if the overall quality of existing drug treatment services is not significantly improved.…”

“…While federal funding will be provided to accredited drug treatment centers, the extent to which the funding will sufficiently finance the expansion of treatment services is unclear. Significant out-of-pocket costs to those mandated for treatment or inadequate resources for treatment programs would adversely affect the quality of drug treatment services overall and any attempt to incorporate smoking cessation intervention (Syvertsen et al, 2010).…”

U.S. Drug Use and Migration Experiences of Mexican Female Sex Workers who are Injection Drug Users

“…41,42,72,81 An increasing body of evidence substantiates the need for a coordinated binational HIV strategy that also addresses drug abuse prevention. It is critical to facilitate migrants’ access to affordable and sound substance use treatment services 82 in both Mexico and the U.S. Notably, Mexico has historically lacked a strong network of drug use treatment services.…”

Compulsory Commitment to Care of Substance Misusers: International Trends during 25 Years

“…Many data on law on CCC derive from three WHO reports [1,2,3]. In addition, external information on CCC law from various sources completes the dataset, such as case studies on legislations, national reports or peer-reviewed articles [12,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58]. …”