United States must address increase in drug use, says AMLO

The president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obradoracknowledged that there are “criminal groups” that produce drugs in the country, although he blamed the United States because their consumption is “increasingly” high.

“The causes (in the US) must be addressed and this will also help us a lot because, here, There are criminal groups that are dedicated to the production of drugs.”, he said at the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the National Guard (GN), a body that he conceived in 2019.

However, he warned that “as long as there is consumption, as there is, and increasingly, in the United States, there will be more problems” in Mexico in “confronting organized crime” that traffics drugs.

This is one of the first times that the president, who will hand over the presidency to Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, has acknowledged the production of narcotics by Mexican cartels.

In fact, at the end of March He stated that there is “very little fentanyl” made in Mexicoafter having denied for years the information of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which maintains that this narcotic is produced in the country with chemical precursors from Asia.

He asked the US to address the causes of the problem

“We must convince the Americans, because we are brothers and good neighbors, to address the causes of their high drug consumption,” he recommended in front of the GN agents and a good part of his presidential Cabinet.

He stressed that This situation leads to “very regrettable” circumstances in the United Statessuch as the deaths of young people from overdoses, mainly due to the use of the “terrible drug fentanyl”.

“We need to ensure that young people do not leave their families at such a young age, that this custom is reviewed,” suggested López Obrador, who expressed his commitment to “helping in any way possible” from Mexico.

Finally, he called for “care” to be taken to prevent the growth of drug use in Mexico, which is now “very focused” in some areas, and appealed to indigenous cultures, the “protective shield” of society, to carry this out.

“Mexicans, I say this with all due respect, are not vicious or prone to drugs,” he said.

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