International Key note Lisa Sánchez, Executive Director of Mexico United against Crime (MUCD)

2. The drug phenomenon in Mexico
and its impact on the most
vulnerable
Lisa Sánchez

3. My story
1984 1900s & 2000s 2006

4. homicides per
100,000 inhabitants
and
between
8
7 y 12
42
cartels
Cases of
precautionary
detention and
137
Sentences for
organized crime.
Mexico: Before
1.5
% of population
used illegal drugs
and
10
% of treatment
facilities had a
physician.
27,870
People in prision
accused for drug
offences
98.6
% considers that his
family would condem
drug use.

5. deaths and
Explosion of over
300,000+
300
8,000
Criminal
organizations
Cases of
precautionary
detention and
140+
Sentences for
organized crime.
Mexico: After
1.5
% of population
used illegal drugs
and
323
New ambulatory
treatment facilities
32,121
People in prison
accused of drug
offences
65%
Increase in
torture

6. Human Rights in Mexico
SEDENA SEMAR PGR SSP (PFP/PF)
29 (32%) 7 (44%) 2 (17%) 6 (29%)
Homicide 51 (57%) 8 (50%) 2 (17%) 2 (10%)
Arbitrary arrest 43 (48%) 5(31%) 1 (8%) 3 (14%)
Unlawful detention 5 (6%) 2 (13%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%)
Torture 51 (57%) 9 (56%) 1 (8%) 10 (48%)
Cruel, degrading or
inhuman treatment 19 (21%) 5 (31%) 2 (17%) 5 (25%)
Use of force 20 (22%) 5 (31%) 0 (0%) 5 24%)
Incommunication 13 (14% 2 (13%) 1 (8%) 1 (5%)
Illegal search 20 (22%) 4 (25%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%)
[1] Idem P. 19
[2] Los porcentajes entre paréntesis denotan el porcentaje de las recomendaciones sobre cada tipo violación con relación al total de recomendaciones hechas a cada dependencia entre 2007 y 2012. Una misma recomendación puede referirse a distintas violaciones a derechos humanos.

7. Harms to vulnerable groups
▪ The protection of children is rightly a key concern in the debate about drugs and drug policy. But, far
from protecting this most vulnerable of groups, the war on drugs exposes them to even greater risks:
drugs cut with dangerous adulterants; a criminal record that can ruin lives from an early age; violent
drug markets that blight entire cities; barriers to evidence-based treatment and health interventions;
and ineffective education inspired by ideological visions of a drug-free world.
▪ Drug-taking is often equated with negligence or mistreatment of children, and a woman’s drug use or
dependence in particular can be grounds for removing a child from her care.
▪ Women are most commonly convicted of low-level, nonviolent drug offences, and are not the
principal figures in criminal organizations. However, since they are also most commonly a child’s key
care provider, when they are criminalized or imprisoned due to drug-war policies, their children suffer
too.
▪ Forced drug-crop eradication has had a range of severe negative consequences, including for
children, contributing to human displacement, violence, food insecurity, and further poverty.

9. Culture of Lawfulness
Victim Assistance
Permanent programs
Drug Policy
Civil/citizen Monitoring Young Leaders Culture of Lawfulness
in the workplace
(enterprises)
School for Parents School Environment

10. Organized

11. Changed the narrative
99,3 98,6
95,6
87,4
88,8 91,3
72,6
67
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Drogas 12 a 17 años Drogas 18 a 65 años Alcohol 12 a 17 años Alcohol 18 a 65 años
Familia Amigos

12. 13,0
19,0
10,0
21,0
29,0
30,0
43,0
76,0
78,0
77,0
66,0
58,0
56,0
44,0
Oct/07 Nov/08 Ago/10 Oct/11 Nov/16 Ago/17 Oct/18Sí se debería legalizar No se debería legalizar
Changed the narrative
Opinión pública sobre legalización del cannabis

13. Advocated

14. Litigated

15. And we are winning!
‒ 56 new bills tabled to Congress in 4 years
‒ New legal benefits for PWUD
‒ Medical cannabis revised
‒ Jurisprudence at the Supreme Court
‒ New obligations for the Mexican State

16. Mexico
▪ In Mexico it’s a fact that cannabis has therapeutic value. Also, the public opinion agrees that
medical cannabis should be legal, this includes judges and medical specialists.
▪ We have make a sensitization work on judges. This allows them to protect cannabis users from
prison by ordering the emission of licenses that allow them to consume the substance. This also
includes the acquisition of seeds and transportation of cannabis.
▪ We have won cases that enforce universities to not suspend students as a result of positive
doping tests.
▪ We request the increase of health services for injecting drug users, in order to include free
medical care and medications.
▪ We got, for the first time in Latin America, a resolution from a judge that ordered the publication of
a regulation that guarantees access to the medicinal use of cannabis
▪ We force judges to start the debate on the need for regulation on other drugs in Mexico.
▪ We demand that the authorities issue regulations based on scientific evidence and protecting at all
times the human rights of people who use drugs.

17. Thank you!
Lisa Sánchez