Tijuana’s municipal government signed a formal cooperation agreement with Prevencasa A.C., a nonprofit that has provided harm reduction and addiction services in the city since the late 1990s. The deal links the city’s Municipal Institute of Mental Health and Addictions (Imsama) with one of the border region’s most established organizations serving people who use drugs.
Under the agreement, Imsama and Prevencasa will coordinate addiction treatment programs, build referral pathways between government clinics and the NGO’s community-based services, and expand social reintegration efforts for people with limited access to healthcare. The partnership targets vulnerable populations including migrants, deportees, sex workers, and homeless individuals.
Prevencasa’s Role in Tijuana’s Drug Crisis
Prevencasa has operated in Tijuana’s Zona Norte neighborhood for more than two decades. The organization officially became a registered community-based group in 2007 to address HIV and hepatitis C epidemics among people who inject drugs. It now functions as a harm reduction clinic, offering basic health services, naloxone distribution to reverse opioid overdoses, and training for medical professionals.
In 2022, Prevencasa opened an overdose prevention site called “La Zona” in the same neighborhood. The site focuses on gender-responsive services for women who use drugs in one of the city’s most at-risk areas. Researchers associated with the organization estimate that hundreds of people die from fentanyl overdoses in Tijuana each year, though exact numbers are difficult to confirm because Mexico’s forensic services do not always test for the drug.
A City Seeking Institutional Answers
The agreement comes after years of strained public funding for harm reduction in Mexico. In recent years, the federal government cut direct funding to NGOs across the country, forcing organizations like Prevencasa to rely on international donors and research partnerships. Alfonso Chávez, Prevencasa’s coordinator in Tijuana, has previously described how the loss of government support shut down outreach programs that served drug users in downtown Tijuana.
Prevencasa is considered the only harm reduction organization of its kind operating in Tijuana. The new municipal partnership could restore a formal channel between the NGO and city health services, filling gaps left by federal funding cuts. The deal also positions Imsama as a local government body willing to work with civil society on substance use, a policy area long dominated by law enforcement approaches in Mexico.
Tijuana sits directly south of San Diego and is a major transit corridor for drug trafficking into the United States. The Zona Norte district where Prevencasa operates is a few blocks from the San Ysidro port of entry.
The agreement was first reported by La Jornada Baja California.