Guatemala is a party to the 1988 UN Convention, but has not yet implemented many of its provisions. Status of Country With hundreds of unmonitored airfields, an internal road network and river system leading to an uncontrolled border with Mexico, and with no air-search radar capability, Guatemala became the Colombian cartels' choice for cocaine transshipment in the early 1990s. Guatemalan drug and alcohol education and rehabilitation experts estimate that at least one out of four adults suffer from some sort of chemical dependency, principally alcohol abuse. Illicit drug use, while still small, has increased markedly since 1990 and contributes to the extremely high level of violence in the country, especially in the capital city. Opium gum from poppy fields in northwest Guatemala is smuggled to Mexico for processing.
Cannabis is grown throughout the country, primarily for domestic consumption.
Country Actions Against Drugs in 1995 Policy Initiatives. There were few narcotics control policy or legislative initiatives during the last year of President de Leon Carpio's administration because of election-year political maneuvering. No progress was made in developing a national counternarcotics master plan. On the law enforcement side, the MOG increased compensation for all police, including the DOAN, with two levels of risk bonuses. Although this was a much needed step, the GOG has yet to specifically recognize the skill and risk of the DOAN's work.