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ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - JUNE 26, 2022: A man shops in the alcohol department at a grocery store in Albuquerque. CREDIT: Adria Malcolm for New Mexico In Depth
Alcohol kills New Mexicans at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country — and no one can fully explain why.
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State Police Sgt. Toby LaFave speaks to a driver he pulled over on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque, under suspicion for driving while intoxicated.
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Dr. Larissa Lindsey of UNM's Addiction and Substance Abuse Program, known as ASAP, at her home in Tijeras, N.M. CREDIT: Adria Malcolm for New Mexico In Depth
New Mexico is a violent state. It ranks among the worst for women murdered by men, child abuse and neglect are almost twice as common as they are nationwide, and its rate of suicide is one of the highest of any state.
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Public safety officers help an intoxicated man who had fallen asleep outside the Sports Page Lounge in Gallup, N.M. CREDIT: Ted Alcorn for New Mexico In Depth. The forecasted low in Gallup is 17 degrees, cold even for February, but the man’s jacket is unzipped when the headlights find him slumped against a darkened storefront, a Broncos cap pulled over his eyes.
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Steve Harbin sits at his dining room table at his home in Albuquerque. CREDIT: Adria Malcolm for New Mexico In Depth
By 2013, Steve Harbin’s alcohol problem was plain to nearly everyone.
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New Mexico State Capitol. Image by Marjorie Childress.
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Illustration by Shelby Criswell
At a 12-steps meeting in Albuquerque’s foothills, one of hundreds held each week statewide, there were cowboys, Anglo women in golf shirts, and Hispanic day laborers. A woman without housing asked around for a place to stay the night.
