Articles By

Juan Blea

Addiction is the Legacy of the Born Immigrant

To many in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, the United State’s enactment of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was nothing more than a fancy smoke and mirrors tactic that allowed the U.S. to steal huge pieces of land from its rightful owners.

One of those land owners was my great-grandfather, Jose Inez Quintana.  He was born in Mexico.  His daughter and my great-grandmother, Geñoveva Quintana, was born in the United States.  Only, they were born in the same physical place: San Ildefonso, NM…

The Root Cause of Northern New Mexico’s Drug and Alcohol Problems

A quick perusal of the NM Department of Health Substance Abuse Epidemiological Profile for New Mexico, 2013 shows that NM:

-Has an alcohol-related death rate that’s 1.9 times higher than the national average

-Has the highest drug-overdose rate in the entire country

-Has a suicide rate that’s 2 times the national average

Without any doubt, Northern New Mexico owns the worst reputation for drug-related issues, as Rio Arriba County owns the state’s highest drug related death rate.  The data shows that we, as a community, MUST do something to try and get our drug usage and death rates lowered.  But what do we do?…