Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse - Archives - National Institute on ...

The highest rates for the previous 12 months were observed in Baja
California, Mexico City, and States surrounding the capital (figure 1).
Compared to rates reported by Johnston and colleagues (1993), for 8th-,
10th-, and 12th-grade students in the United States, rates in Mexico are
lower. In the latter, rates <strong>of</strong> lifetime use varied from 3 to 4 percent, while
in the United States rates were 4 times higher, varying from 16 to 17
percent. Nevertheless, when only daily use is considered, rates in Mexico
for grades 10 and 12 are slightly higher: 0.26 percent and 0.1 percent, as
compared to 0.1 percent in the United States.
In Mexico, inhalants also are the drug <strong>of</strong> choice <strong>of</strong> children working on
the streets and among delinquent minors. In the capital city,
epidemiological surveys conducted among minors (i.e., persons under 18
years <strong>of</strong> age), working on the streets in an area to the south <strong>of</strong> the city
showed considerably higher rates <strong>of</strong> use than the ones observed among
students and in household surveys. Twenty-seven percent <strong>of</strong> the children
in the sample reported lifetime use <strong>of</strong> solvent inhalants, with 22 percent
reporting daily use. Lifetime prevalence <strong>of</strong> marijuana was reported by 10
percent and daily use by 1.5 percent <strong>of</strong> the children interviewed. No
other drugs were reported. School dropout and lack <strong>of</strong> contact with the
family were strong predictors <strong>of</strong> drug use (Medina-Mora et al. 1982). De
La Garza replicated this study in Monterrey and found that the incidence
<strong>of</strong> drug use among minors working in the streets was quite low, but a
high proportion <strong>of</strong> solvent users was found in poor communities (De La
Garza et al. 1987). In Tamaulipas, the same author conducted a study
among delinquent minors under 14 years <strong>of</strong> age and found that 42 percent
<strong>of</strong> the minors who were institutionalized at the time <strong>of</strong> the study (N =
158) had used illicit drugs. Alcohol was the drug most commonly used
(41 percent <strong>of</strong> the total users), followed by inhalants (27 percent), tobacco
(17 percent), marijuana (14 percent), and psychotropics (1 percent) (De
La Garza et al. 1987).
A study, coordinated by the Government <strong>of</strong> the City <strong>of</strong> Mexico,
(Departamento del Distrito Federal 1992) reported that 22 percent <strong>of</strong> the
minors interviewed admitted having friends who use marijuana and
pills—8.5 percent admitted using these types <strong>of</strong> drugs, and 14.7 percent
were inhalers. This study identified a greater number <strong>of</strong> female users (28
percent) than was observed in previous studies. In a previous study
conducted in the early 1980s, only 5 percent <strong>of</strong> the street children were
female, and none <strong>of</strong> them were inhalers. (Medina-Mora et al. 1982).
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