The drug battle on the border is shifting and authorities say New Mexico’s growing meth problem is being fueled by criminal operations in Mexico. U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson credits the rise in cheap and available meth for driving Albuquerque’s crime crisis. “. . . I see meth as being the number one public safety threat in that respect as a driver of violent crime,” Anderson said. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, New Mexico’s meth problem is getting worse, with 2020 on track to surpass 2019 and 2018 for total meth seizures coming from Mexico. Federal authorities are seizing larger amounts of drugs in the state, and Anderson said there are a few reasons why.
“I think it's the cost and it's also a function that the fact that tremendously greater amounts of it are being produced in what we call the super labs in Mexico. I think for many years our meth was made locally, was made in much smaller quantities. That has largely been eclipsed by the mass production and cheap production that we're seeing coming from Mexico.” Anderson said his office is working closely with the DEA to intercept drugs being funneled into the country. They’re also working with Mexican authorities to shut down superlabs.
That's one of the more cogent and important explanations of what has happened to our city and why.
Meth heads kill people and steal cars, giving much of ABQ a more menacing and sinister atmosphere. Failed educational outcomes and low incomes exacerbate poverty thus the addiction and crime. Drug interdiction to decrease the supply and more drug treatment are just two of the ongoing challenges. The relatively benign days when crime in ABQ was bad but not supported by drug cartels are gone. Is crime now out of our control or not? That question will begin to hover over ABQ as the 2021 mayoral campaign approaches.
ALIBI GETS REPRIEVE
Like so many other newspapers it found itself on its death bed. But at least for now it has been saved and by a somewhat unlikely savior. ABQ City Council President Pat Davis and his business partner Abby Lewis have purchased the Weekly Alibi, the city's alternative newspaper that has had a nearly 30 year run.
The news received limited coverage, another sign of the decline of the once muscular weekly which suspended print public during the pandemic. Davis says he wants to revive the Alibi's once robust local reporting but that will take money and advertising. The latter has dried up as the city's entertainment venues--the major supporters of the paper--remain mostly shuttered. The manger of a prominent downtown bar tells us he does not expect his bar or others to reopen until there is a vaccine found for COVID.
Davis, a Democrat, says he has no plans to use the paper as a personal promotional tool and that news articles will adhere to traditional journalistic standards.
The prospects for the Alibi in this changed environment remain highly uncertain. What Davis paid for the financially ailing paper has not been disclosed. It couldn't have been much. That will give him and the city time to decide if the Alibi is a nostalgic relic or can be rebooted for a future still clouded by COVID and its immense consequences.
THE BOTTOM LINES
Jousha Hernandez, 34, who works at the ABQ branch of the Agenda PR agency as a digital marketing manager and who has dabbled in political consulting, has been named to replace Rio Rancho GOP State Rep Tim Lewis on the November ballot. The Sandoval County GOP Central Committee took that action after Lewis resigned the seat to spend more time with family. No Democrats or Libertarians filed for the navy Republican District 60 seat so Hernandez will be seated at the Roundhouse in January.
Former state Senator and banker Don Kidd, a pillar of the Carlsbad business scene, has succumbed to cancer. He served from 1993-2005 and represented Eddy, Lea and Otero counties in District 34. Kidd was 82. . . Old-timers will remember Fran Langholf who served as the longtime office manager for GOP US Senator Pete Domenici and who was deep involved in GOP politics. Langholf died Aug. 20 at the age of 96. Domenici was NM's longest ever serving US Senator and passed away in 2017 at the age of 85.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020