Mexican Drug Cartels Recruiting From Drug Rehab Centers

Drug use has (predictably) run rampant in recent years as the Mexican drug cartels created a multi-billion dollar industry manufacturing drugs and transporting them into the United States.

This has led to some disturbing behavior inside the drug treatment centers in Mexico.

In recent months we've seen in the news that Mexican Cartels have lashed out at drug rehab clinics and killed patients there.

We were curious at the time about what possible motives could have been behind such a seemingly cruel and inhumane act, but recent developments in the news seem to shed light.

A Logical Breeding Ground for Drug Cartel Mules and Henchmen

Apparently, the wily drug cartels have made the obvious connection that turning recovering addicts into hit men and smugglers would be easy to do.

Top Mexican Law officials told the AP that Mexican Drug Cartels have infiltrated the poorly regulated drug treatment facilities to find drug users who can be turned into unwilling partners in the lucrative drug trade. (as reported in the Washington Post).

Drug use has (predictably) run rampant in recent years as the Mexican drug cartels created a multi billion dollar industry manufacturing drugs and transporting them into the United States.

The narcotics manufacturing and transporting industry has exacted a hefty toll on Mexican society. Gun wielding mafia henchmen wreak havoc in the streets and the corruption has infiltrated the government agencies that fail to regulate the drug trade. The trendy and desirable parts of many major cities have become dangerous slums and this has widened the divide between the upper classes and lower classes.  People of all ages experiment with the drugs and then the few who become dependent get caught up in the unregulated drug rehab industry where they are extremely vulnerable to the threatening and coercive cartel henchmen.

Cartels Infiltrate Drug Clinics

According to Victor Valencia, cartel members check into drug rehab clinics posing as patients.  Then, in true mafia style, they wrest control of the organization through threats and acts of violence.

Some drug clinics will give their patients the opportunity to get back on their feet by peddling candy, cigarettes, and gum on the streets of Mexico's cities. The Mexican Drug Cartels made the logical leap for using these workers as a front to selling drugs like cocaine and heroin.

Some cartels then proceeded to open clinics and, according to Mexican officials, there was legitimate treatment and the clinics used retreats and religion to get addicted men and women off of their drug of choice.  However, once the individual has regained control of their lives, they are within the clutches of the drug cartel and threatened with their lives if they don't obey the whims of the drug cartel.  Apparently the drug cartels were not shy about killing dissenters in order to set an example.

Violence follows the Cartels into Drug Rehab Facilities

Numerous deadly attacks have been waged by drug cartel members against rehabilitation clinics.  The bloodshed has been thorough and seems utterly senseless. 

The last 2 years have witnessed a fever pitch in the long existing murderous battle between the Mexican government and drug cartels and drug rehab centers have been one of the battlegrounds hit the hardest.

In August 2008, assailants wielding assault rifles burst into a religious ceremony at a clinic in Ciudad Juarez. The gunmen yelled out the names of the victims before shooting 13 of them, eight of whom died.

In June of 2009, gunmen killed five men at another rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez, while 50 patients scrambled over a back fence to escape. A few months later, 18 addicts were lined up against a wall at another facility and mowed down by gunfire. Two weeks later, nine men and a woman were slain at yet another clinic in a poor neighborhood.

There is a growing concern that the violence will cross the border and threaten rehab patients in Texas or other states in the U.S.

Getting Help From Reputable Treatment Centers in the United States

If you are worried about the quality of treatment you will receive when researching an addiction treatment facility, there are several organizations that offer credentials ensuring a high level of care.

Sunrise Recovery and its parent facility Sober Living by the Sea

both are certified by:

CARF  - Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities

ADP - California Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs

CAARR - California Association of Alcoholic Recovery Resources

NAATP - The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers

For more information about treatment please call 866-540-5242.