Research paper
Emerging patterns of crack use in Mexico City

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.010Get rights and content

Highlights

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    Mexico and other developing countries experiencing increased crack use.

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    Polythetic typology includes dabblers, stable users, crack heads and old heads.

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    Crack patterns self-regulated and less problematic and embedded in everyday life.

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    Mexico City's disadvantaged social context explains crack use patterns.

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    Responses to crack in Mexico require distinct tailored health and social responses.

Abstract

Background

Recent studies in Mexico have documented a significant increase in crack cocaine use, indicating the potential for an emerging drug epidemic.

Methods

Ethnographic observations and interviews were used describe the profiles and patterns of use among street-recruited crack users in Mexico City. The data came from an international research collaboration funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Results

A polythetic typology was developed based on five dimensions central to categorizing patterns of crack use behavior: frequency of use, duration of use, context, social networks, and social contracts. Four types of users were discovered applying these dimensions: dabblers, stable users, crack heads, and old heads. Although several similarities were documented between patterns of crack use in Mexico and those in the United States and Western Europe, several key aspects distinguished crack users in this population: (1) self-regulated use; (2) non-linear progression of crack; and (3) the influence of the dimensions pertaining to setting, social networks, and social contract as contributing to understanding of the previous two. Further, we provide a discussion of how specific contextual factors in Mexico may be giving rise to these emerging patterns.

Conclusion

Compared to the U.S. and Europe, this study finds that the majority of crack users were able to self-regulate their use without major disruption to daily social functioning. As crack use spreads in Mexico and other Latin American countries, we need to recognize the importance of social context in developing more tailored health and social responses that are specific to these developing countries.

Section snippets

Methods

This project was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse through an international funding mechanism that included an American university and a Mexican federal research institute. The research team identified, recruited, and interviewed current crack users in three Mexico City delegaciónes: Cuauhtémoc, Coyoacan, and Iztapalapa. Mexico City is subdivided into 16 delegaciónes for administrative purposes that are the equivalent to boroughs. The delegaciónes were selected based on

Dimensions of crack use patterns

Five distinct dimensions emerged that are central to categorizing the patterns of crack use behavior among these diverse individuals. The first dimension was frequency of use. At one end of the frequency continuum were individuals who use crack only once or twice a month and were considered low to moderate or casual consumers. These individuals were often polydrug users of cannabis, pharmaceutical pills, and alcohol. At the other end of the continuum were individuals who were frequent and

Conclusion

We have presented a framework for describing and understanding the emerging crack use patterns in the context of a marginalized urban population in Mexico. We constructed a framework along specific dimensions that resulted in a typology of crack users. Our findings of the crack head type generally corroborate the compulsive crack user that has been documented in most studies conducted in the U.S. and Western European countries (Barrio et al., 1998, Blanken et al., 1999, Khouzam et al., 1995,

Conflict of interest

There are no possible conflicts of interest involving products or consultancies that are related to this study.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant 5R21DA031376: “Emergence and Diffusion of Crack and Related Health Risk Behaviors in Mexico City”. Additional support was provided to Kathryn M. Nowotny by the Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute on Hispanic Drug Abuse (NIDA R25DA026401) and the CU Population Center (NICHD R24HD066613). The authors are grateful to Mario Dominguez Garcia, Eduardo Zafra Mora, Jobsan A. Rarmirez, and

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