Mexico City – President Felipe Calderon proposed Monday that Mexico test thousands of public-school students for drugs as part of the fight against drug trafficking.
The tests, which would require parental permission, would be performed first in 8,000 public schools and later possibly be expanded nationwide, Calderon said. He added that parents groups would have to approve its implementation.
It “will be a permanent monitoring of the students’ health so that we are able to detect any addiction and immediately act,” Calderon said in Monterrey. “It is not to punish them but to help them overcome that problem.”
Mexico is a key shipment point for cocaine, marijuana and heroin going to the United States and has been ravaged by violence between powerful drug cartels.
Domestic drug consumption has increased substantially in recent years but is still far below U.S. levels, according to government surveys.
