Rehabilitation centers for people with addictions and some spaces in the penitentiary system have become strategic points for the recruitment of young people by organized crime in Sinaloa, according to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The study, titled “The War of the Heirs in Sinaloa,” documents that the violence derived from the dispute between the main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has increased the recruitment of adolescents and young adults, who today represent around 40 percent of homicide victims and half of the missing persons in the entity.

According to the investigation, prepared with more than 50 interviews carried out between June 2025 and May 2026, criminal groups take advantage of the vulnerability of young people with addiction problems to incorporate them into their ranks.

In some private rehabilitation centers, without sufficient regulation, members of criminal organizations offer drugs as a form of payment or exert pressure to recruit them.

The report also points out that detention centers for adolescents face overcrowding problems and that some young people are recruited by members of organized crime while they are serving judicial processes.

Specialists consulted by the ICG warn that those who enter for minor crimes can establish contact with criminal networks within these spaces.

Among the factors that favor recruitment, the agency identifies the lack of regulation in annexes or rehabilitation centers, economic need, the desire to belong among adolescents and the absence of social programs aimed at young people at risk.

Likewise, it states that many begin carrying out surveillance work for criminal organizations and are later forced to perform higher risk functions, such as participating in armed confrontations.