Drug use in Mexico has risen in part because Mexican youths are more vulnerable to drug abuse than their United States counterparts, the nation's Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told Mexican press on Wednesday.

There are more youths in Mexico than in the United States, "and they are more vulnerable and experiencing economic improvements," Medina told Mexico's El Universal newspaper. Cocaine and amphetamine use has risen to alarming levels, especially in urban areas, he said.

Several other factors have contributed to this, he added: "The closure of the Caribbean route means that Mexican cartels have grown in importance, and as the United States reduces its cocaine consumption more of the product ends up on the Mexican market."

Faced with this problem, all branches of government -- federal, state and municipal -- need to assume their share of responsibility, he said.

Medina said that public policy should be developed and deployed that fights drug consumption and sales without relying on police work; and that helps rehabilitate addicts.

A United Nations report said that 200 million people worldwide had taken some kind of drug and that there are 25 million addicts.

Separately, and also on Wednesday, Mexico's National Women's Agency said in a report that drug use among women had risen due to family break-ups, relationship and emotional problems, stress, depression and poverty.

The report was a response to Tuesday's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

Among Mexico's nearly 1.8 million serious drug users there are around 1.4 million men and some 450,000 women, while about 216,000 12- to 17-year olds are drug users: About 168,000 boys and about 48,000 girls.

Marijuana is the most commonly-used drug among women and cocaine, amphetamines and inhalable drugs are used in much smaller amounts.

However, data from the National Psychiatry Agency reports that women over 26 use twice as many addictive prescription drugs than men, and that women believe themselves to be more fragile and are more likely to experience depression.

Source: Xinhua