Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UCLA

UCLA Previously Published Works bannerUCLA

Where Is the Opioid Use Epidemic in Mexico? A Cautionary Tale for Policymakers South of the US-Mexico Border.

Published Web Location

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6301408/
No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract

In North America, opioid use and its harms have increased in the United States and Canada over the past 2 decades. However, Mexico has yet to document patterns suggesting a higher level of opioid use or attendant harms. Historically, Mexico has been a country with low-level use of opioids, although heroin use has been documented. Low-level opioid use is likely attributable to structural, cultural, and individual factors. However, a range of dynamic factors may be converging to increase the use of opioids: legislative changes to opioid prescribing, national health insurance coverage of opioids, pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, changing demographics and disease burden, forced migration and its trauma, and an increase in the production and trafficking of heroin. In addition, harm-reduction services are scarce. Mexico may transition from a country of low opioid use to high opioid use but has the opportunity to respond effectively through a combination of targeted public health surveillance of high-risk groups, preparation of appropriate infrastructure to support evidence-based treatment, and interventions and policies to avoid a widespread opioid use epidemic. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print November 29, 2018: e1-e10. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304767).

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Item not freely available? Link broken?
Report a problem accessing this item