This fear was expressed in a recent Scotsman News article as new Scottish statistics show nearly one in ten who are waiting for an assessment for drug treatment had to wait more than a year. For those seeking community treatment, one in 20 had to wait more than a year for assessment.

The Scottish Government is taking steps to try and change this outcome, pushing for 90 percent of patients receiving treatment within 3 weeks by 2013. The challenge here is that between October and December of last year, only 85 percent were offered an appointment for assessment within four weeks of referral. In fact, the number of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders from 2007-08 fell 11 percent from 2006-07.

James Kelly, Scottish Labour’s community safety spokesman, said: ”The decrease in the number of drug treatment and testing orders is a worry. This could well lead to more people committing crime, putting more pressure on the justice system.”

Scottish Liberal Democrats spokesman, Robert Brown, noted that drug addiction and the associated damage to individuals and communities is supposed to be a high priority for the SNP government. His group finds it appalling that there are so many addicts waiting so long for treatment.

While the Scottish government rebukes the claims that the situation is as bad as it seems, the reality is this is a challenge is many countries, including the United States. Crimes do increase when addicts are seeking ways to fund their habit and treatment must be available and effective to reverse the trend.
 

This region, an established transit point for Latin American cocaine to large Western markets, has become a drug processing site among rising addiction rates. Drug violence is expected to follow.

"A flourishing illicit trade in the hands of organized crime is obviously a threat to the rule of law, governance and, as a result, human rights," said Alexandre Schmidt, West African head for the U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in Reuters. "But we must no longer hide the indirect consequences with regard to the increase in problems linked to drug abuse."

According to the United Nations, some 20 tons of cocaine passed through West Africa in 2008, worth roughly $1 billion.

Warnings of things to come were shared during a meeting of seven West African governments who are seeking to implement declarations of intent to curb trafficking. They are relying on support from the United Nations, France and Spain.

The landing point for most of the cocaine is Guinea-Bissau. This region saw a strong of political assassinations that analysts way were linked the drug trade. It is also believed that the notoriously brutal military in neighboring Guinea were also involved.

Experts note there is clear evidence of a rise in local use of cocaine and crack. Citing research in Cape Verde, the region’s initial drug hot-spot, Margarete Molnar, a health specialist at UNODC, said drug use is entrenched in the region and among citizens.

"This shows that being on the route of trafficking is a disaster," she said. "(Law enforcement) may protect West Africa and Europe but I can tell you that in this region there are people who are hard drug users who need to be rehabilitated."
 

According to the Post, these individuals are given an ultimatum: “Work for us or we’ll kill you.” It is known that two of the country’s six major drug cartels are known to have used this tactic to further their trade.

In El Paso, Texas, 41 people have been killed in mass shootings at drug rehab clinics over the past year and a half. These massacres are said to have been prompted by recruitment efforts within the clinics and by common reasons such as failure to pay for drugs or betrayal of a dealer.

“The rehabilitation centers are an extension of the battlefield,” said Edgardo Buscaglia, a leading Mexican drug expert, in the Post. “There are no refuges anymore.”

This rise in cartel-driven drug rehabilitation is attributed to the government’s failure to address the social ills that continue to emerge from Mexico’s drug trade. The government and its military have gone after the cartels, but continue to do little to regulate private treatment facilities that have proliferated throughout the country.

In Ciudad Juarez alone, this city of 1.3 million has an estimated 100,000 addicts. The clinics within the city include a number that are unlicensed and are run out of dilapidated homes by former addicts.

Recovered addicts are often seen on street corners selling candy, cigarettes and gum to try and raise money for struggling rehabilitation centers. Some cartels have seized this opportunity to use the addicts to add their drugs to their offerings.