Dog Days Blogging; Thoughts On The Headlines, A Novel Mental Health Plan And Lovin' Las Cruces

We're in the thick of the Dog Days of Summer replete with consecutive days of 100 degrees or more but we have one more blog before we cool off so here’s some thoughts on the headlines of the day and a bit more. . .

If MLG's administration can adopt a rule that requires manufacturers to ensure at least 43% of all cars and 15% to 20% of all trucks sold in New Mexico are electric models by the 2026 calendar year, why can't the administration set a goal to improve fourth grade reading scores (only 21 percent proficient) and math (only 19 percent proficient) scores? Isn't that just as important, if not more so?

The US Senate on an 84-8 vote has confirmed Xochitl Torres Small as deputy secretary of the US Dept. of Agriculture. The former southern NM Democratic congresswoman is serious about public policy, not a chair warmer. She probably won't be running for the US House again but she has a political future in the state, if she wants one. 

You won't get busted anymore for using cannabis, but legal cannabis is somewhat of a big bust here--at least for many store owners. Promising it would launch an economic development boom, MLG and former Econ Sec. Keyes pushed mightily to get it approved by the Legislature. Over a year later the state is overrun with cannabis shops fighting to stay in business, the cartels are still underpricing the legal market and the econ development is nowhere in sight. 

SOTERIA HOUSE

New Mexico's behavioral health system withered when the then Governor shut many facilities down making fraud charges that never held up. Today Dona Ana county psychologist Al Galvez writes of a plan he and others are formulating that they hope will spark more interest in Santa Fe:

Mr. Monahan:  As you know, our mental health system was badly hurt by Gov. Susana Martinez. We're still in the process of recovering from that blow. I'm part of a group that is working on creating a Soteria house in Dona Ana County. Soteria Las Cruces is a long-term (3 to 6 months) residential treatment for psychosis. It is a very effective treatment approach with full recovery rates of up to 60 percent of patients. That compares with a recovery rate of less than 20 percent with conventional treatment. 

Soteria Las Cruces is a "gamechanging strategy" in the strategic plan of the LC# 3 Local Behavioral Health Collaborative which is building the "ideal behavioral health system" in Dona Ana County. Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are devastating to patients and their families. They are impairing, scary, painful, troubling and costly to society. We want effective treatment for psychotic disorders in Dona Ana County. 

I spoke about Soteria with Neal Bowen, former Director of the Behavioral Health Services Division (BHSD), almost two years ago. At that time he said "Yes, we ought to have this as an optional treatment in New Mexico. Let's shoot for the 2023 session of the legislature." So Representative Joanne Ferrary introduced a bill to appropriate $859,000 for the first year operation. That bill received a Do Pass from the House Health and Human Services Committee. But it was tabled by the House Appropriations Committee because it was not included in the budget of the BHSD. 

Our strategy now is to get the BHSD to include it in its budgets for FY2025, 2026 and 2027. In order to do that we want to meet with Jackie Nielsen, Interim Director of BHSD. BHSD gave us $50,000 (appropriated by Rep. Ferrary from her "Junior" money) to develop a business plan. We have completed the plan and sent it to her. We now want to talk with her about implementation. 

I am a psychologist in Dona Ana County. Our group includes Rep. Ferrary; ex-Senate Leader Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen; Mary Martinez White, one of the developers of drug courts in New Mexico; Rose Garcia, Executive Director of the Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation; Paul Dulin, former head of the Border Health Authority; and Carol Kane, supporter of the Oxford Houses in Dona Ana County. Again, wanting you to know about what we're doing here. 

Thanks for the rundown, Al. Interesting program and we don't see why interim Director Nielsen would not find it the same at a meeting with the Soteria group.

LOVIN' LAS CRUCES

Speaking of the City of Crosses, it gets a dose of love in this column from Peter Goodman. An excerpt:

In a small desert city, despite our growth no tall buildings block our clear sight of natural elements such as the course of the sun and moon and the naked shapes of the mountains. We humans are all intruders in a precious natural world that will long outlive us, even though we’re fast fouling its livability. Deer may visit your home, in some areas. Those vast skies are huge paintings. Our occasional rainstorms not only revive our desert but are compelling light shows. Dry arroyos flood. Life feels more elemental than in larger cities or milder climates. I like it here.

Wherever you are in the Land of Enchantment this summer, we hope you are likin' it there. And if you're not here, what are you waiting for?

Reporting from ABQ, I'm Joe Monahan

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023