Blind Drunk
EYES ON THE ROAD
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In New Mexico’s war on DWI, the relentless focus on drunk drivers misses the bigger problem of addiction.
Blind Drunk
A MISSING INGREDIENT
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As violence in New Mexico spikes, state leaders overlook alcohol’s integral role.
Blind Drunk
POISONOUS MYTHS
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Stereotypes about alcohol and Native people are hiding a crisis that’s bigger than any single group.
Blind Drunk
EVERY DOOR IS THE RIGHT DOOR
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Alcohol dependence is New Mexico’s biggest untreated substance use problem. Doctors can do more to treat it.
Blind Drunk
PAYING THE TAB
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Scientists say policies can help the state cut excess drinking, but lawmakers listen to alcohol interests instead.
Blind Drunk
A SOBER APPRAISAL
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Reducing New Mexico’s extraordinary alcohol death rate will require a whole-of-society approach.
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RESOURCES FOR REPORTERS
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Alcohol hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Here are tools to report on it, whether your beat is health, crime, business, or politics.
2021 Legislative Session
Police reform bills sweep the virtual statehouse, but outcome uncertain
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A year of tumult over race and policing is coming to a head in New Mexico’s busy legislative session. With just weeks to go before it ends on March 20, lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills aimed at reforming law enforcement and several have progressed through committees. As a share of total introduced legislation, bills related to policing doubled this year over previous sessions, according to data from Legislative Council Service.
But it’s uncertain whether the state, which has one of the highest rates of fatal police shootings in the country, will take significant action. Save a requirement passed in last July’s special session that law enforcement statewide wear body cameras, the Legislature hasn’t enacted any major legislation related to policing in years. According to Rep. Antonio Maestas, D-Albuquerque, the quantity of proposals this year reflects the urgency of the moment.
Behavioral Health
Albuquerque’s vision for non-police first responders comes down to earth
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Printed in white block letters, the question stretched across billboards around Albuquerque last summer. And it still haunts the mother of two, Elaine Maestas, who helped pay to put them up.
“What if emergency responders came armed with compassion instead of guns?”
In 2019 when her little sister Elisha Lucero’s mental health was deteriorating, 911 seemed like the only place to turn for help. “Leash” was in counseling to manage her worsening migraines and hallucinations, Maestas said, but she was deeply afraid of being hospitalized or medicated. So as her behavior became more erratic, she resisted her family’s entreaties to seek further treatment, and they felt they had no recourse but to call law enforcement to the South Valley address where she lived.
Fishing was one of Elisha Lucero’s favorite pastimes. In April of 2016 she met up with one of her best high school friends to fish at Tingley Beach, where she caught around seven fish off corn and fireballs.