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New Mexico has not raised its alcohol excise tax since 1993, but not for lack of trying. Numerous bills have been introduced over the last three decades, but none have been signed into law. Last year, an increase made it through the Roundhouse only to be vetoed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. This year, lawmakers in the state with the highest alcohol-related death rate in the country are giving it another go.
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There’s a push in the legislature to make it easier for minors to get medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder. Twin bills in the House and Senate call for the state to stop funding programs that restrict the treatment, while creating a fund to support programs that offer it.
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Ahead of the legislative session that starts January 16, several health and civil rights advocates are pushing for the state to invest more in addiction treatment and housing. They are also calling for the state to put fewer resources towards what they call criminalization tactics.
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Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s September public health order didn’t only call for a ban on open and concealed carry of firearms. It also has several measures aimed at reducing illegal drug use in adults and young people. Youth detention numbers have been rising since the order took effect, and while the governor said that could get more young people into addiction treatment, experts say otherwise.
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While New Mexico has long struggled with the nation’s highest rate of alcohol-related deaths, the pandemic has inflamed the issue, according to a report released Thursday. The state saw an average of six people die each day from alcohol in 2021, and few living with the addiction are getting treatment.
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A summit in Taos later this week will focus on barriers to recovery people with addictions face, and organizers say they hope to see elected officials and members of the media as well as the public there.
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The Albuquerque Journal's Elise Kaplan recently reported that Native Americans living on the streets in Albuquerque are being approached by people promising help getting sober, only to be abandoned.
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New Mexico’s senior U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich is leading a bipartisan call for the Drug Enforcement Administration to make the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine more accessible. In a letter to the agency this week, the group of senators argue the DEA needs to be more transparent about its policies.
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People incarcerated in New Mexico have limited access to medication-assisted treatment for Opioid Use Disorder. A bill expected to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session would change that by making it state law for all corrections facilities in the state to consistently provide it. Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center Dr. Nathan Birnbaum treats patients returning home from prison and jail and has been working to get the bill in front of lawmakers.
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State prisons are required under the U.S. Constitution to provide “adequate medical care” to those they incarcerate. However, prisons in New Mexico and 16 other states do not provide inmates with medication for opioid addiction, and neither do most of its county jails. Advocates are calling on lawmakers to expand this treatment in New Mexico lockups in the upcoming legislative session.