By CATERINA MORBIATO, Related Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Underneath heat strobe lights and pulsing home beats, a current competition in Mexico Metropolis provided greater than music, meals and booze. Amidst the same old competition fare, a sales space supplied free, nameless drug testing.
The initiative, often called “Checa tu Sustancia” (Verify Your Substance), is one among a number of current efforts by Mexican civil society to cut back threat amongst individuals taking medication. Spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug coverage analysis and advocacy group, it goals to handle drug use from a public well being and social justice perspective, fairly than a safety one.
In a well-lit nook of the competition, members of the Instituto RIA used reagents and laboratory porcelain plates to check substances that a number of the partygoers deliberate to make use of and recorded the information. Their evaluation makes use of coloration modifications to point what’s within the drug: It could actually reveal the presence of adulterants however not their actual proportion.
In addition they provided take a look at strips that may detect the presence of fentanyl and nasal sprays of naloxone, a drugs designed to quickly reverse opioid overdose.
Additionally accessible had been informational flyers detailing the results of assorted psychoactive substances and what to do to cut back the dangers related to utilizing them, together with easy however vital measures like staying hydrated and consuming nicely.
Whereas some partygoers appeared cautious of the initiative, others approached it with curiosity.
“(There is) amazement, but also a little bit of fear, because there is a whole context of criminalization,” mentioned social psychology pupil Jessica Reyes Moreno, 27, a volunteer with Checa tu Sustancia.
When surprising substances are detected, customers obtain detailed info on what they’re, about their dangers, potential interactions with different substances and dosage changes, empowering them to make knowledgeable decisions.
Hurt discount vs. abstinence
When individuals perceive that the main focus just isn’t on prohibiting however on providing info and secure, non-judgmental areas the place they are often heard, belief is constructed, mentioned Reyes Moreno.
“I think it’s information we should have. Because (drug use) is taboo, and if we’re uninformed, we can overdose,” mentioned a 34-year-old Mexican partygoer, who requested anonymity because of his use of illicit substances.
He mentioned he feels there isn’t sufficient details about unlawful medication in Mexico, and when there’s, it’s both complicated or all stigma. “It’s just ‘Don’t do it,’ but there’s no such thing as ‘If you do it, take this precaution.’”
The “don’t do it” strategy sees abstinence as the answer. In distinction, hurt discount, as outlined by Hurt Discount Worldwide, goals to attenuate the destructive well being, social and authorized results of substance use by working with individuals with out judgment or requiring them to cease utilizing medication.
The strategy focuses extra on individuals — and their communities— than on the substance.
“We never say, ‘you shouldn’t consume this,’” mentioned Zara Snapp, a political scientist and director of the Instituto RIA. “The best way to reduce your risks is not to consume at all. But if you have made the decision to consume, we want you to have as much information as possible so you can take care of yourself.”
‘Choose to be happy’
The prohibitionist, hardline strategy of the struggle on medication in Mexico has led to the notion of the person as somebody who’s essentially related to drug trafficking or legal actions.
Earlier this yr, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum unveiled her authorities’s newest anti-drug marketing campaign, “Stay away from drugs. Fentanyl kills,” which facilities on the artificial opioid accountable in its deadliest yr for greater than 70,000 overdose deaths annually within the U.S. — now all the way down to an estimated 52,000 deaths a yr.
Aimed toward younger Mexicans, the marketing campaign frames drug use as a public well being subject, however a number of the movies and glowing neon billboards present situations during which dying and loneliness (drug use) are contrasted with life and household (not utilizing medication). They learn, “Choose to be happy.”
“It’s not that if I use drugs I won’t be happy, or if I stop using drugs I’ll be happy,” mentioned Lilia Pacheco, operational director of PrevenCasa A.C., a Tijuana-based group that runs harm-reduction initiatives for opioid customers, largely deportees from the US who report that they began utilizing in that nation.
“How can we say that to someone who is using because they are cold, hungry or in withdrawal?” she mentioned.
Mexico’s well being division didn’t instantly reply to inquiries relating to considerations that its newest marketing campaign stigmatizes drug use.
Dr. Carlos Magis, a professor at Mexico’s Nationwide Autonomous College’s medical college and member of a working group on opioids, mentioned that stigma poses critical challenges. He cited examples of well being employees refusing remedy with out abstinence, restricted entry to naloxone or the shortage of public methadone clinics.
Breaking down concern and social isolation
A current report by the Mexican Observatory of Psychological Well being and Drug Use, discovered that between 2013 and 2024, 5,901 individuals in Mexico had been handled for emergencies associated to opioid use, with it trending up.
PrevenCasa reduces hurt not by asking customers to cease utilizing, however by exhibiting that their lives matter by offering them with secure injection tools, showers, toiletries and social occasions like Friday film nights.
“These interventions improve quality of life, unlike a sign that says ‘fentanyl kills you,’” mentioned Pacheco. “The right to health should be universal.”
Each Pacheco and Snapp emphasised that collective care is on the coronary heart of hurt discount efforts. Whether or not practiced within the amenities of organizations engaged on the border or at digital music festivals, the purpose is to interrupt down social isolation and concern in concrete methods.
“This is a service that will save lives…it’s very forward-thinking,” mentioned a 43-year-old man, who requested anonymity as a result of he’s a person of illicit substances, after members of Instituto RIA examined his ecstasy at a current competition.
He mentioned that drug testing kits can be found in the US, the place he’s from, however that in his expertise thus far, it’s one thing individuals largely do on their very own or behind closed doorways.
The visibility and group of Checa tu Sustancia was a shock to him.
“I feel good that I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just here to have fun, but now with peace of mind,” he mentioned with a smile. He then rejoined his associates and disappeared into the dancing crowd.
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