Development of a System for Registry of Information on Drug use in Mexico

Mexico's need for uniform information about drug abuse led to creation of an information collection system in 1986. This system, known as the System for Registry of Information on Drugs (SRID), currently covers the Mexico City metropolitan area. Plans call for it to be expanded in two phases--so as to provide coverage first of the states near the U.S. border and those with substantial tourism, and then to cover the nation as a whole. This article describes the data collection procedures used and the results of the four SRID assessments conducted in the Mexico City area from mid-1986 through mid-1988. These results indicate there were about nine male drug abusers in this period for every female; that drug use typically began young; that the drugs most commonly abused were marijuana, inhalants, alcohol, tobacco, and tranquilizers; that cocaine use was limited but apparently increasing; and that most of the drug abusers interviewed had not completed secondary school, were not in school at the time interviewed, and had relatively low socioeconomic status.