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

Am J Public Health. 2019 Jan;109(1):73-82. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304767. Epub 2018 Nov 29.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Canada / epidemiology
  • Cost of Illness
  • Cultural Characteristics
  • Drug Industry / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Drug Trafficking / statistics & numerical data
  • Emigration and Immigration
  • Epidemics* / prevention & control
  • Health Policy*
  • Humans
  • Inappropriate Prescribing / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Inappropriate Prescribing / prevention & control
  • Mexico / epidemiology
  • National Health Programs
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / prevention & control*
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • United States / epidemiology