The History of Inhalant Use in Mexico City, 1960–1980

Abstract

This essay introduces the primary consumers and drugs of Mexico City’s drug culture between 1960 and 1980: children and industrial chemicals. There was an unprecedented rise of drug consumption among Mexican children and adolescents from all socioeconomic classes. In addition, the most common drugs minors consumed were marijuana and toxic inhalants. To deal with this concern, the Mexican state further criminalized any behavior relating to marijuana use. However, police records expose the detention of a far greater number of children who consumed toxic inhalants, a legal substance. Why was this the case? Why did the Mexican state criminalize one drug but prosecute the consumers of another? By the 1960s, marijuana, barbiturates, LSD, cocaine, opium, and its derivatives were criminalized under Mexican law. Inhalants were not. Government documents from the Mexican health department, judicial records, and medical journals show how the consumption of inhalants resulted in numerous medical and criminology discussions over their negative effects on public health, yet never categorized inhalants as illegal drugs. I unravel the contradiction inherent in the Mexican legal and sanitary system regarding drug laws that define certain drugs as licit, but prosecute the consumer.