Critical reflections on the National Addiction Surveys (ENAs) in Mexico

Abstract

This paper analyzes the national surveys (ENA) that are the main policy instrument used to measure illegal drug consumption in Mexico. On different occasions, the government has used increased drug consumption rates to partially justify the “War on Drugs.” The paper reviews the 2008 and 2011 surveys, and highlights the methodological and conceptual flaws of the national surveys, such as faults in the sample and methodology; definitions of the categories “use,” “abuse,” and “dependence”; and the relationship established between consumption and prevention. It concludes that the ENAs are not clear regarding whether they want to measure consumption or dependence, and also unclear on their objective. The survey results do not allow precise measurement of the phenomenon of illegal drug consumption, which is of fundamental importance in creating and proposing effective public policies. It is hoped that this analysis contributes to the formulation of more appropriate surveys in the future.

• Dependency
• drugs
• Felipe Calderón
• National Addiction Survey
• public policy
• prevention

Notes

¹A complete list of the questions from the original Database cited by the ENA Collaborator, and other related pertinent questions can be found in Appendix 1.

²We should note that ENAs refers in its 2008 version to “graphics” as “figures.” In its 2011 version, graphics are referred to as graphs.

³This concept is introduced in the ENA without further explanation.

⁴Table A41, Figure 15 ENA 2008.

⁵Table A41, Figure 15 ENA 2008.

⁶Table A41, Figure 15 ENA 2008.

⁷Table A40 ENA 2008.

⁸Table A40 ENA 2008.

⁹Table A40 ENA 2008.

¹⁰Tables A44, A45 and A43, Figure 27 ENA 2008.

¹¹Figure 27 ENA 2008.

¹²Tables A44, A45 and A43, Figure 27, Figure 10 ENA 2008; Table 4, Graph 5 ENA 2011.

¹³Figure 10 ENA 2008.

¹⁴Figure 15 ENA 2008.

¹⁵Figure 10 ENA 2008.

¹⁶CI: Confidence Interval. The confidence interval “gives an estimated range of values which is likely to include an unknown population parameter, the estimated range being calculated from a given set of sample data” (Easton & McColl, 1997).

¹⁷The National Health Program (Secretaría de Salud, 2007) mentions the goal to reduce the use of illegal drugs by 10% in the category of “at some time in life.” We do not know of other official documents that explicate government goals with regard to prevention. Therefore, we can speculate that the government's goals during Calderon's term were designed to eliminate any type of drug consumption, not only problematic ones.