Mexican government officials rarely miss a chance to point to America's demand for illegal drugs as the cause of their violent struggle with traffickers. But the notion of the country as an innocent victim of geography is increasingly outdated. Although Mexico is still a middleman between Colombian growers and American consumers, it is fast becoming a destination for narcotics in its own right. In the past six years drug use is reckoned to have risen by nearly 30%, and the trend shows no signs of abating. President Felipe Calde-ron has mainly treated drugs as a national-security issue, but its consequences for public health may be almost as severe.rnMexican consumption began to take off in the mid-1990s. Tight economic conditions and increased government scrutiny of large financial transactions prompted the cartels to shift to payments in kind. Instead of giving cash to local operators on trafficking routes, they would allot them a share of the shipment. The glut of drugs in the country grew further after the September nth 2001 attacks, when the United States redoubled its border controls.
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