Narconon Mexico—Expansion of Facilities to Serve Those in Need

October 19, 2020 • Pedro Escobedo, Querétaro, Mexico
Finca Jomai - Narconon Mexico

You ask anyone, anywhere, and they will tell you that they want to raise their children and their family in a safe environment. But there are places in the world where entire regions are controlled by drug dealers and gangs, where violence is an everyday occurrence, and where children are targeted by dealers before they even make it to their school every day. Mexico is one such place. It ranks in the top 20 of the world’s worst drug-trafficking countries. With this comes skyrocketing addiction rates and the tug-of-war between those that want to enslave the youth through drugs and those that are working day and night to help them free themselves from the pain and misery of addiction.

Eduardo Espinal, the Executive Director of Narconon Mexico, has seen this tug-of-war from both sides. He knows what it is like to be addicted and the toll it takes on a person's family, friends — every facet of life. And he knows what it is like to extend a hand and lift someone out of the depths of despair and the pain of addiction.

In 1994 Eduardo made the decision to get off drugs. He investigated many programs but nothing convinced him. Then his brother learned of the Narconon program and knew this was what he was looking for. At the end of the program, Eduardo knew he had to do something to repair the damage he had caused. When he returned home, free of the shackles of drugs, he could clearly see the human misery and suffering drugs had caused and he made the decision to open a Narconon center in Mexico. He opened the first Narconon center in the country in 1998. In the last 20 plus years, Eduardo has helped three other Narconon Centers open in Mexico. Together these centers have helped more than a thousand individuals who returned to their families drug-free.

In 2020, to meet the demand for the Narconon program, the center is expanding its facilities yet again. They have moved to a new location, with 114,000 square feet of space. Where 23 students can be accommodated comfortably and have the needed space to recover from their addiction without the need for replacement drugs.

The facility is located in the municipality of Pedro Escobedo in the State of Querétaro—a very fitting location for a rehabilitation facility as the area is named after Dr. Pedro Escobedo, a distinguished doctor and humanitarian who brought hope and real help to those in need. The new facility offers a distraction-free environment where students on the Narconon program can take the time to heal from the trauma of their past and learn the needed life skills to create a better future.

Narconon Mexico - local presentation
Director of the DIF, Mrs. Maria del Rosario Cervantes welcomes Marisela Espinal, Deputy Executive Director Narconon Mexico back to Querétaro
 

The Director of the DIF (Desarrolo Integral de la Familia, a government agency for underprivileged adults and children in the area), Mrs. Maria del Rosario Cervantes, remembered Narconon Mexico when it first started and warmly welcomed them home to their new expanded facility. She spoke of the urgent need for workable rehabilitation programs in the area and was happy to have Narconon as a partner.  

As for Eduardo, he says, “For more than 20 years we have kept our doors open no matter what. We knew we had to keep going and keep helping. Now when I see our program graduates who have been drug-free year after year, all they can say is ‘Thank you for saving my life.’ And the hundreds upon hundreds of family members say, ‘Thank you for saving my fathers, my mothers, my husbands and so on. There is no better satisfaction. This makes it all worthwhile. That’s why we do what we do."

 “Now when I see our program graduates who have been drug-free year after year, all they can say is ‘Thank you for saving my life.’ And the hundreds upon hundreds of family members say, ‘Thank you for saving my fathers, my mothers, my husbands’ and so on. There is no better satisfaction. This makes it all worthwhile.
That’s why we do what we do.” 


Narconon Mexico is proud to be back in the State of Querétaro and its staff stand ready to help those seeking to overcome addiction.