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The Americas
美洲板塊
Mexico
墨西哥
Mired in meth
深陷冰毒
Illegal drug consumption is increasing
非法毒品消費正在增加
In reto a la juventud, a live-in treatment centre in Ciudad Juarez, in northern Mexico, Jenny Chavez describes how her addiction to drugs led to her losing her job as a maid, her house and her family.
在墨西哥北部華雷斯的一家寄宿治療中心尤文圖德中，珍妮·查韋斯描述了她的毒癮如何導致她失去了女傭的工作、房子和她的家人。
The 39-year-old mother of five started taking cocaine ten years ago, but it was after she moved onto methamphetamine, or meth, a potent stimulant, that things began to unravel.
這位39歲的，有五個孩子的母親十年前開始吸食可卡因，但直到她開始吸食甲基苯丙胺(又稱冰毒，一種強效興奮劑)后，事情才開始惡化。
“It’s hard because everyone takes it around here,” she explains.
她解釋說：“這很難，因為這里的每個人都吸毒?！?/p>
Mexico is home to hundreds of gangs shipping illegal drugs north.
墨西哥是數百個向北運送非法毒品團伙的大本營。
Domestic use of such substances, however, has historically been low.
不過毒品在墨西哥國內的使用量歷來很低。
That is changing.
這種情況正在改變。
Mexico's most recent national survey, from 2016, shows that 10% of people reported having tried an illegal substance in their lives, up from 7% in 2011.
墨西哥2016年最新的全國性調查顯示，10%的人報告曾在生活中嘗試過非法毒品，高于2011年的7%。
Synthetic drugs in particular have become more common over the past five years.
特別是合成毒品在過去五年中變得更加普遍。
In 2021 36% of users at a government network of treatment centres sought help for addiction to meth, compared with 15% in 2016.
2021年，政府治療中心網絡中，36%的毒品使用者因冰毒成癮而尋求幫助，而2016年這一比例為15%。
Consumption of meth is doing “terrible damage” to the country, says Javier Gonzalez, who heads the addiction agency for the state of Chihuahua, home to Ciudad Juarez.
華雷斯所在的奇瓦瓦州戒毒機構負責人哈維爾·岡薩雷斯說，吸食冰毒正在對這個國家造成“可怕的破壞”。
That city is particularly badly affected because of its location on the border.
由于地處邊境，該市受到的影響尤其嚴重。
But the problem is national.
但問題是全國性的。
According to data from the network of treatment centres, meth overtook marijuana in 2020 as the drug that most people sought help with.
根據治療中心網絡的數據，在2020年冰毒成癮人數超過大麻，更多因冰毒來尋求幫助。
The demography of drug users is changing, too.
吸毒者的人口結構也在發生變化。
More women are taking drugs, while youngsters are having their first experience at an earlier age.
越來越多的女性正在吸毒，而青少年的第一次吸毒年齡也越來越早。
During the pandemic consumption of illegal drugs rose among 15-24 year olds.
在疫情期間，15-24歲青少年的非法毒品消費量上升。
Analysts trace the increase in drug use to a decision around a decade ago by the Sinaloa gang, which is Mexico's main producer of synthetic drugs, to sell their wares at home as well as to traffic them.
分析人士認為，毒品使用量的增加源于大約十年前，墨西哥合成毒品的主要生產商錫那羅亞幫派決定在國內銷售他們的產品，并進行走私。
It works as a recruitment tool.
它起到了增長工具的作用。
