Drug Trade, Once Passing by Takes Root, and Toll in Mexico

Mexico was once just a transit country for drugs bound for the United States. Now it is a country of drug users as well. Mexican drug cartels have grown in power and have begun to open up local markets for cheap forms of drugs like crack and methamphetamines. Lots of medium-sized towns have large and growing populations of addicts, along with a rise in violent crimes. "Ten or fifteen years ago we didn't even see powdered cocaine, just marijuana," said Cmdr. Juan Carlos Espinosa, of the Zamora Police Dept. "Then about three years ago we started to see sign of ice, crack, and heroin."
One measure of this growing drug use trend is the number of people who have checked into federal drug rehabilitation centers. The number of crack addicts seeking treatment has tripled since 2001 and the number seeking help for methamphetamines has doubled. The evidence of addiction is everywhere. Ragged people sleep in vacant lots and on the street and street crime is common. Crack houses are inteerspersed among grocery stores and video arcades. Some people quoted that drug addiction has taken their life.
Drug use is not as "victimless" of a crime as people might think. There are definitely victims. The victims are the people who have had their entire lives flipped upside down because of their addictions. They have lost their jobs, houses, and even their families because they can not stop buying drugs to get them high. The war on drugs might never end, but something has to be done. The world will not change on its own.