UN points to Mexico as the third largest producer of poppy in the world, 28,000 hectares are cultivated

In the country more than 28,000 hectares are cultivated annually, as revealed by the first report on illegal Mexican opium fields

Between 2014 and 2015 was cultivated in six Mexican states sufficient to place Mexico among the world 's leading producers poppy, according to the first report presented Wednesday by the Mexican government with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Satellite images recorded some 28,000 hectares of illegal camps, the equivalent of twice Guadalajara (capital of Jalisco).

Mexico is officially placed as the third country in the world with more poppy crops, behind only Afghanistan and Myanmar. And where it is planted in Guerrero, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa.

From Foreign Undersecretary Miguel Ruiz Cabanas, he said that this research is a major step in the fight against drugs in Mexico. "They have strengthened the technical capabilities of the federal government for the detection of illicit crops is the first time Mexico has and develops its own methodology, is an important step forward. "

In Mexico the fight against drugs has littered with corpses the country. The figures, 100,000 dead and 27,000 missing, have taken a toll on a country that is slowly opening to legalization. The debate has advanced, at least in the medical field. The governor of Guerrero -the first opium production entity of the country, the PRI government, has publicly called for the legalization of poppy crops for medicinal use. The goal: to take once the business cartels, which have made ​​the rural state one of the deadliest in the country. The regional representative of the UN on drugs, Antonio Luigi Mazzitelli, believes, however, that the regulation of opium is not output because there is a "global overproduction" and Mexico would have no market.

Although the report presented Wednesday does not give specific figures on production, estimates the US government indicate that the opium harvest in Mexico is growing exponentially. The production estimate went from 26 tons in 2013 to 42 in 2014, when according to the Mexican government was seized 400% more opium gum.

Deaths from heroin overdose remain on high alert to the United States. "This crisis takes lives. It destroys families. Destroza communities across the country , " said President Barack Obama in October. A report by the US Congress in 2016 indicated that should materialize a bilateral plan with Mexico to address the problem. The study on the magnitude of Mexican crops will be included in the World Drug Report UN and presented Thursday in New York.