Mexican Drug Violence Targets Addicts and Rehab Workers

Tangled in the front line trenches of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s anti-narcotics campaign are the country’s growing legions of addicts, who find themselves sought by gangsters as both customers and sometime targets of their violence. Cheap and plentiful narcotics have flooded the country as producers and traffickers have sought to open new markets for cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs. And the gangland violence, which has killed thousands, also has targeted addicts and rehab workers: At least 43 in the last 13 months have been murdered in attacks on drug rehab centers in Ciudad Juarez, bordering El Paso. After years of cracking down on gangsters, Calderon has turned at least some attention to prevention and treatment. Using money seized from drug traffickers, his administration in the past year has opened more than 300 new drug rehab centers, some located in small farm towns.