Intense work on prevention of the use of drugs in young people

The consumption of internationally prohibited substances continues with a stable trend of five percent; However, the number of consumers has grown 30 percent in the last ten years due to the increase in the population and urbanization is a factor that contributes to the increase in their purchase. With this assertion, the Master in Psychology Raúl Martín del Campo Sánchez began his webinar, under the theme “International Guidelines for the improvement of prevention programs for substance use in young people”, within the framework of the First Symposium on Suicide Prevention and Promotion of mental health in girls, boys and adolescents, organized by PREVENFISAME. The Master, who is a member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board, affirmed that “the fact that I mention to you has been documented by the National Institute of Psychiatry, since the prevalence of consumption is much higher in the city than in the rural area ”. He warned about the damage caused to consumers by altered drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, which are combined with various chemical substances, additives or fentanyl, which is sold as if it were ecstasy; in short, they give them a hoot and they don’t know it, but it hurts them. “Currently we have identified 808 new drugs that have not been properly classified, but that shows us the speed with which the laboratories work at the service of drug trafficking. For example, in 2018 we had about 46 new drugs and if we take into account the weeks of the year, a new drug was born almost every week, ”said Raúl Martín del Campo Sánchez. One piece of information that drew attention was when he commented that due to the quarantine forced by COVID-19, there was a significant increase in the sale of drugs through social networks, with online purchases.

Another phenomenon that has been detected is the increase in drug use among women, which is associated with gender violence, divorce and social inequality, which makes it impossible for them to go to treatment, so they look for a scheme with objectives exclusively for women. Although the concern is concentrated in young people, the marked increase in drug use in the elderly is striking, and it is not a minor issue, because ten years ago in the United States of America there were an estimated 800 thousand people who used drugs and currently there are eleven million. Still, drug use is higher among adolescents than among adults; especially at parties and clubs, although now it has fallen through the quarantine. “A severe problem that has been detected is that the traffickers place methamphetamine in high-income sectors and the same substance is sold cheaper, for smoking or injecting, in low-income places. Raúl Martín del Campo Sánchez showed the report that was sent to the International Narcotics Control Board and that this year had the thematic chapter that had to do with improving prevention among young people. The works that are carried out in the school environment are fundamental in the subject of addiction prevention. Doing campaigns on TV and the Internet because “the campaigns on television have more effect on parents than on children, because they don’t watch TV, now they spend more time on social networks; we offer talks in schools, workshops and sports activities, as well as development of skill programs ”. I add that it is recommended that the governments of the countries try to understand the problem, train professionals in the prevention of drug use, attend to family problems and have prevention programs in the health sector.