An intermediary, though still big in marihuana
Mexico's role in the international drug business is largely as a conduit to the US. It is a small but significant producer of heroin and a large producer of marihuana according to the UN's Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The UNODC reckons that Mexico is now the world's fifth-biggest source of opium. This makes it the second-biggest producer of opium in Latin America, after Colombia. In the UN's recently published Trends in Illegal Drugs 2003, it is estimated that 2,700 hectares in Mexico are now given over to the cultivation of the poppy. The UN expected Mexico to have produced 47 tonnes of opium in 2002
Mexico's production is nudging Colombia's likely 2002 output of 50t. Both, though, are a long way behind Afghanistan, which the UN reckons produced 3,400t in 2002.
The UN considers drug eradication efforts in Mexico to have been pretty effective. It claims that the acreage given over to opium poppies dropped by 39% compared with 2001. In 2001, the UN reckoned that there were 4,400 hectares of opium poppies. This could have produced 71t of opium.
The UN puts Mexico in the group of countries which produce at least 2% of the world's heroin. Mexico's companions on this list are: Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
First in interceptions. Mexico is the most difficult country for the heroin traffickers to do business in, the UN reckons. It notes that more heroin was intercepted in Mexico than anywhere else in 2001. In that year, 1,838t of heroin were intercepted in Mexico. This compares with 683t in the US. Among Latin American countries, Mexico intercepted 10 times as much heroin as Brazil (which grabbed 146t) and 20 times as much as Colombia (which seized 86t).
Mexico was the fourth-biggest nabber of cocaine. It grabbed 30t in 2001. This was behind the US (106t) and Colombia (73t).
Consumption. The UN reckons that 231m people in the world are hooked on one or another sort of illegal drug. This is 3.4% of the world's population. The most popular drug is marihuana (163m people) followed by amphetamines (34m). Around 15m people use opiates and 14m use cocaine.