New Mexico has long had the highest rates of substance abuse in the country and the problem continues to worsen

 In January 2020, the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) completed a gap analysis for substance use disorder treatment and found an estimated 134,000 New Mexicans needed treatment yet did not receive it. DOH estimated that roughly 10% (13,000) of that population might enter treatment if it was made more accessible. 

The Image above shows Mortality Rates for Unintended Overdoses in the U.S., New Mexico, and Bernalillo County (Source UNM, 2016)

In 2020, New Mexico reached an all-time high in drug overdose deaths, despite a threefold increase in spending on substance use treatment since 2014, and an 85% increase in service delivery. Drug possession also accounts for a high number of admitted inmates into the state's prison system, increasing 18 % over the last decade. 

Outside factors also contribute to an increase in drug use in the state, the COVID-19 pandemic, also restricted access to services like medication for opioid dependency which must be administered in person. Most of the dollar investments have been appropriated towards the criminal justice system as a direct effect on the criminalization of drugs. However, incarceration is not an adequate solution to the drug war. A different approach is necessary as these actions have not adequately addressed the increasing demand for substances. 

I recommend the following policies to address substance abuse through a harm reduction lens. Targeting substance abuse without the negative stigma, centering on the individual by providing accessible services. 

School-based drug prevention programs

Generate large savings in future health costs and cause a significant reduction in substance use in the community. The New Mexico DOH should expand school-based programs to include opioid prevention, in addition to alcohol, tobacco, and cocaine. According to the RAND Corporation, an effective school-based drug prevention program would cost $150 dollars per student. The state of New Mexico has roughly a total of 50 million (NCES) students multiplied by $150 per student, which would be an estimated investment of seven billion five hundred million. Funding would come from the state of New Mexico to prevent students from experiencing drugs, and ever transitioning to a substance use disorder. 

The difficulty of implementing this policy option does not come from the cost in dollars, but from the lost learning opportunity by students. Diverting limited class time from academics to substance use prevention education could be problematic. 

Overdose prevention centers 

Can reduce overdose deaths. This policy option would call for the operation of two overdose prevention centers, one in the Bernalillo County which has a higher rate than New Mexico in drug-induced death rates, and one in the Rio Arriba County which has an even greater rate of drug-induced death rates in the state. Overdose prevention centers would provide a safe space for people to consume pre-obtained drugs in controlled settings under the supervision of trained staff. The centers would also provide additional services such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT) drugs such as buprenorphine and methadone, these drugs are used to treat opioid dependency. Overdose prevention centers would have a rehabilitation aspect to them, connecting people who have the goal of rehabilitation. In New Mexico, Medicaid funds 91% of substance use services, such as medication, Medicaid would also fund the medication needed to treat substance use disorders. The New Mexico state legislation would barrow the initiative from New York governor De Blasio to create overdose prevention centers as an extension of existing harm reduction services and co-locate with previously established sterile syringe exchange services providers in the Bernalillo and Rio Arriba Counties. 

An example of an overdose prevention center in New York (Source: GothamGazzette https://www.gothamgazette.com/state/11167-new-york-city-expand-overdose-prevention-centers)

The difficulty of this option is the negative stigma substance has in a community. Overdose Prevention centers would require an educational aspect as others would need to understand that overdose prevention centers keep infected supplies out of the streets and save lives. 

Decriminalization of Drugs Local and State governments can determine their enforcement priorities and have broad latitude to enact reforms to reduce the harm of problematic drug use and punishment (expand on background about state powers). Drug criminalization disproportionately affects minorities and low-income people, and a criminal record created barriers that can trap people in cycles of poverty.  New Mexico would increase the number of drugs carried by a person for personal use, removing criminal penalties such as arrest and incarceration. Drug decriminalization is not drug legalization, but instead a matter that results from the high demand for drugs in the state. Instead of wasting millions of dollars criminalizing people for drug use, the money would be directed toward harm reduction treatment and social services. 

Incorporating an information campaign that centers those with a substance abuse disorder as people suffering from a condition of dependency, can help the negative stigma attributed to drug abuse by others. 

These policies are all aimed at reducing the amount of substance use disorders in the state of New Mexico. 

Addressing the racism in the United States: Reparations for Black Americans

 

 

 

Inequality is still very present in the United States. An issue that divides the great nation of America is the systematic oppression of Black Americans. America has become more polarized than ever before, ignoring the equal civil rights all citizens rightfully deserve. Systematic racism does not only affect Black Americans but all who believe in the equality the United States should offer to all its citizens. Addressing the racial inequality tied to Black Americans, as the economic foundation of the United States was built through the forced labor of Black Americans.

Not addressing the disparities racism creates for Black Americans will continue the lower-income, wealth, housing restrictions, disproportionate incarceration rates, and adverse health outcomes to continue affecting black communities. Black Americans live with significant disadvantages in comparison to their white counterparts. Poverty rates from 2019 demonstrate in comparison how whites 7.3% to blacks 18.8%, significantly experience disadvantages in income census.gov Black Americans have significantly less wealth than white. Blacks own 42.1% of homes in comparison to Whites who own 73.3% of homes. Black Americans are the least likely out of minorities to own real estate property. Owning a home is important to the aspect of wealth accumulation. Black Americans have significantly less wealth than whites which leads to a lack of opportunities. Equal opportunity will not be possible without addressing the 

disadvantages of the Black population.

Source: Forbes 2021

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/average-net-worth/

 

Figure 1 illustrates the average and median household net worth taking race as a factor of difference, it is apperant that Black Americans are significantly poorer than any other racial minority in the United States. As shown by figure 1 Black Americans hold the lowest household income among any race in America. 

 

 

 

Source: Census Bureau (1994-2019)

 https://usafacts.org/articles/homeownership-rates-by-race/

 

As shown in the image, which provides homeownership by race in the United States, this image is a clear representation of how Black Americans fall at the end of the spectrum in comparison to white homeowners. Black Americans do not have equal access to wealth or housing. 

 

Reparations to atrocities committed against a group of people based on racial discrimination have been done before: President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which gave surviving Japanese Americans 20,000 in reparations and a formal apology. Also, the current Biden administration has acknowledged that during the last presidential administration immigration policy of “zero-tolerance” whether people crossed the border legal or illegally they lost their child. No further actions have been taken into the immigrant family’s reparations, but acknowledgement of the previous administration “outrageous behavior” is an important step into breaking the historical oppression towards racial minorities. Reparations for Black Americans begin by providing the equal opportunities that their white counterparts are given. 

 

To the issue of Black American reparations, I propose the following policy options: 

The status quo is not an adequate response to the situation of systemic racial. The current system benefits those in power and makes it difficult for minorities such as the Black American community to scale up the social hierarchy. It is difficult for those who benefit from the systematic racism in America to see how their privilege is in direct correlation to the disadvantages of others. Moreover, as parents pass the wealth accumulation down to their children, this causes for Black Americans to remain in the same poverty cycle. Race theory illustrates how individuals hold roots to poverty. Causing Black Americans to live in significantly lower quality of life than their white counterparts.

H.R.40 House Resolution would establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals for African Americans. Creating a commission that would study the impacts of slavery followed by the Jim Crow Laws which continue to harm Black Americans will provide the education piece which is necessary to begin to understand as a nation the injustices committed against Black Americans. The commission would have three key tasks. First, it would identify how the Federal and State governments sanctioned the institution of slavery. Second, it would examine discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants. Third, it would research the legacy of slavery and its continued adverse effects on Black Americans and U.S society at large. 

A commission to study reparations would help to understand how racism has directly affected many Americans then develop reparations. A commission to study reparations can encounter some setbacks as many now believe that racism is not prevalent in America and this issue is not relevant anymore as it happened some time ago. 

 

Housing Grants and Baby Bonds, the funds would be directly attributed to descendants of slaves, awarding $25,000 housing grants to recipients over the age of 18. Those under the age of 18 would receive a “baby” bond of $25,000. This policy will lessen the wealth gap and generational wealth between white Americans and Black Americans. This policy will award $25,000 housing grants to recipients over the age of 18. Recipients will be Black Americans who are descended from enslaved people, which comprises an estimated 40 million Americans. People who will be considered as descendants of slaves by following the census data and looking to see if they had identified as Black. The city of Evanston, Illinois, has brought about their own form of reparations for Black Americans in the form of housing reparations, allocating $25,000 thousand dollars towards housing grants to those Black Americans who were impacted by discriminatory forms of neglecting Black Americans from owning real state. Baby Bonds will be given to the descendants of slaves who are younger than 18 and are very unlikely to purchase a home in the future. Possible setbacks from the housing grants and baby bonds could be the funding to the housing grants as giving direct compensation to the discriminatory forms which neglected Black Americans to access housing. Although some may argue that racism does not exist and housing grants such as the one mentioned above are unnecessary to provide Black Americans with equal opportunities to access the housing market. Also, if there are possible disagreements about the housing grants this can be fixed by lowering the interest rate of new homeowners. Lowering the interest rate of house loans can significantly increase the availability of low-income Black Americans who would like to own a home. 

Public Apology and Educational Program, the United States has turned a blind eye to the necessity of addressing how Black bodies contributed to the formation of the economy in America. A public apology would begin to unravel the systematic racism in the United States. A public apology has been introduced as a House resolution by a representative of Tennessee in 2008 who acknowledge how the institution of slavery and the Jim Crow laws discriminated against Black Americans. Followed by institutionalized racism in America. An education program incorporated into the k-12 education will create for future generations the importance of addressing the disparities placed on Black Americans in America. By providing a public apology to the Black community then, the issue of inequality in America can begin to be resolved by educating about the differences in power relations that exist in the United States. Education can serve as the first step in breaking down systematic racism.  Although education curriculum is controlled in the state level, incorporating an educational competency to all public schools as well as charters will teach the young population in America about the systematic racism and how it created disparities to the Black American population. The education piece will be targeted to public education, imposed at the federal level to the states. A curriculum which incorporates race theory implemented from K-12. A similar curriculum was suggested to be implemented in the state of New Mexico the curriculum included: “identifying the student’s group identities” and “taking group or individual action to help address local, regional, and/ or global problems” from kindergarten to elementary, with the end goal of by the time students reach High School they will be able to examine “factors which resulted in unequal power relations among identity groups”, incorporating a curriculum which has the same areas of study in race theory.

Policy Recommendation, moving forward the United States must address the disadvantages placed on the Black community. A package policy that would incorporate a public apology to the Black American community, acknowledging slavery and Jim Crow and how it subsequently lead to the systematic racism which created disparities for the Black American Community. An education curriculum implemented in public schools will allow for future generations to have the knowledge of how to adequately address disparities allowing for equal opportunities for all members of the American society. 

 

 

Attanasio, Cedar. “Proposed updates to state curriculum ridiculed.” Albuquerque Journal, 7 Nov. 2021, https://www.abqjournal.com/2444222/proposed-racial-updates-to-nm-curriculum-ridiculed.html

Birken G Emily, Schmidt John “The Average Net Worth of Americans-By Age, Education and Ethnicity” Forbes Advisor April 23, 2021,

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/average-net-worth/

Census Bureau. “Homeownership rates show that Black Americans are currently the least likely group to own homes” USA Facts, 28 July, 2020

https://usafacts.org/articles/homeownership-rates-by-race/

“Congress Apologizes for Slavery, Jim Crow” NPR, 30 July, 2008,

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93059465

 “Homeownership rates show that Black Americans are currently the least likely group to own homes” usafacts July 28, 2020(accessed December 16,2021)

https://usafacts.org/articles/homeownership-rates-by-race/

 

Ray, Rashawn, and Andre Perry. “Why We Need Reparations for Black Americans.” The Brookings Institution, April 2020,https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/BigIdeas_Ray_Perry_Reparations-1.pdf

Pew Research Center: A Social & Demographic Trends Report. Table A6, The Black Alone Population 18-to-24-Years-Old by High School Completion Status, College Enrollment and Attainment: October 1967 to 2008, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/747-appendix-tables.pdf

U.S Department of Education Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Summary, pp.12, https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/summary/21summary.pdf

Yoshida Helen. “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration” The National WWII Museum, August 13, 2021,

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/redress-and-reparations-japanese-american-incarceration

“Homeownership rates show that Black Americans are currently the least likely group to own homes” usafacts July 28, 2020(accessed December 16,2021)

https://usafacts.org/articles/homeownership-rates-by-race/ 

 

 

 

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