MEXICO CITY — Below heat strobe lights and pulsing home beats, a latest competition in Mexico Metropolis supplied greater than music, meals and booze. Amidst the same old competition fare, a sales space offered free, nameless drug testing.
The initiative, often known as “Checa tu Sustancia” (Verify Your Substance), is one in every of a number of latest efforts by Mexican civil society to scale back threat amongst individuals taking medicine. Spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug coverage analysis and advocacy group, it goals to deal with drug use from a public well being and social justice perspective, quite than a safety one.
In a well-lit nook of the competition, members of the Instituto RIA used reagents and laboratory porcelain plates to check substances that a number of the partygoers deliberate to make use of and recorded the information. Their evaluation makes use of shade modifications to point what’s within the drug: It might probably reveal the presence of adulterants however not their precise proportion.
In addition they supplied test strips that may detect the presence of fentanyl and nasal sprays of naloxone, a medicine designed to quickly reverse opioid overdose.
Additionally out there had been informational flyers detailing the results of varied psychoactive substances and what to do to scale back the dangers related to utilizing them, together with easy however essential measures like staying hydrated and consuming effectively.
Whereas some partygoers appeared cautious of the initiative, others approached it with curiosity.
“(There may be) amazement, but additionally a bit of little bit of concern, as a result of there’s a complete context of criminalization,” stated social psychology pupil Jessica Reyes Moreno, 27, a volunteer with Checa tu Sustancia.
When sudden substances are detected, customers obtain detailed data on what they’re, about their dangers, potential interactions with different substances and dosage changes, empowering them to make knowledgeable decisions.
When individuals perceive that the main target will not be on prohibiting however on providing data and protected, non-judgmental areas the place they are often heard, belief is constructed, stated Reyes Moreno.
“I believe it’s data we must always have. As a result of (drug use) is taboo, and if we’re uninformed, we are able to overdose,” stated a 34-year-old Mexican partygoer, who requested anonymity as a consequence of his use of illicit substances.
He stated he feels there is not sufficient details about unlawful medicine in Mexico, and when there’s, it is both complicated or all stigma. “It’s simply ‘Don’t do it,’ however there’s no such factor as ‘If you happen to do it, take this precaution.’”
The “don’t do it” method sees abstinence as the answer. In distinction, harm reduction, as outlined by Hurt Discount Worldwide, goals to attenuate the destructive well being, social and authorized results of substance use by working with individuals with out judgment or requiring them to cease utilizing medicine.
The method focuses extra on individuals — and their communities— than on the substance.
“We by no means say, ‘you shouldn’t devour this,’” stated Zara Snapp, a political scientist and director of the Instituto RIA. “One of the best ways to scale back your dangers is to not devour in any respect. However when you have made the choice to devour, we would like you to have as a lot data as potential so you’ll be able to deal with your self.”
The prohibitionist, hardline method of the battle on medicine in Mexico has led to the notion of the consumer as somebody who’s essentially related to drug trafficking or felony actions.
Earlier this 12 months, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum unveiled her authorities’s newest anti-drug marketing campaign, “Steer clear of medicine. Fentanyl kills,” which facilities on the artificial opioid accountable in its deadliest 12 months for greater than 70,000 overdose deaths annually within the U.S. — now down to an estimated 52,000 deaths a 12 months.
Geared toward younger Mexicans, the marketing campaign frames drug use as a public well being situation, however a number of the movies and glowing neon billboards present situations during which demise and loneliness (drug use) are contrasted with life and household (not utilizing medicine). They learn, “Select to be completely satisfied.”
“It’s not that if I take advantage of medicine I gained’t be completely satisfied, or if I cease utilizing medicine I’ll be completely satisfied,” stated Lilia Pacheco, operational director of PrevenCasa A.C., a Tijuana-based group that runs harm-reduction initiatives for opioid customers, principally deportees from the US who report that they began utilizing in that nation.
“How can we are saying that to somebody who’s utilizing as a result of they’re chilly, hungry or in withdrawal?” she stated.
Mexico’s well being division didn’t instantly reply to inquiries relating to considerations that its newest marketing campaign stigmatizes drug use.
Dr. Carlos Magis, a professor at Mexico’s Nationwide Autonomous College’s medical faculty and member of a working group on opioids, stated that stigma poses severe challenges. He cited examples of well being staff refusing remedy with out abstinence, restricted entry to naloxone or the shortage of public methadone clinics.
A latest report by the Mexican Observatory of Psychological Well being and Drug Use, discovered that between 2013 and 2024, 5,901 individuals in Mexico had been handled for emergencies associated to opioid use, with it trending up.
PrevenCasa reduces hurt not by asking customers to cease utilizing, however by displaying that their lives matter by offering them with protected injection gear, showers, toiletries and social occasions like Friday film nights.
“These interventions enhance high quality of life, not like an indication that claims ‘fentanyl kills you,’” stated Pacheco. “The correct to well being must be common.”
Each Pacheco and Snapp emphasised that collective care is on the coronary heart of hurt discount efforts. Whether or not practiced within the services of organizations engaged on the border or at digital music festivals, the purpose is to interrupt down social isolation and concern in concrete methods.
“It is a service that may save lives…it’s very forward-thinking,” stated a 43-year-old man, who requested anonymity as a result of he’s a consumer of illicit substances, after members of Instituto RIA examined his ecstasy at a latest competition.
He stated that drug testing kits can be found in the US, the place he’s from, however that in his expertise to date, it’s one thing individuals principally do on their very own or behind closed doorways.
The visibility and group of Checa tu Sustancia was a shock to him.
“I really feel good that I’m not doing something incorrect. I’m simply right here to have enjoyable, however now with peace of thoughts,” he stated with a smile. He then rejoined his mates and disappeared into the dancing crowd.
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Comply with AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
