Now if there were only more of them. 

That was one reaction from Mr. and Mrs. New Mexico as US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the biggest fentanyl bust in US history in which four million fentanyl pills and other drugs and cash were confiscated across five states, including a huge batch of 2.7 million pills in ABQ and another large haul in Santa Fe.

The bust was a rare victory in what long ago was called the war on drugs but has turned into more of a scuffle as the Sinola Cartel and others have come to dominate the trafficking with little resistance. 

New Mexicans have seen the deadly consequences close up with a large swath of ABQ's SE Heights turned over to drugs and crime. There is now the ubiquitous sight of drug addicts nodding off in the streets in the middle of the day and worse. (Here's a video of that life from producer Pablito Herrera.)

Santa Fe is a relative newcomer to the fentanyl scourge but the big bust caught a drug dealer there with 110,000 fentanyl pills and $80,000 in cash in his Rufina Street house, again sending the message that the capital city has more than a nuisance on their hands.

Many argue the war on the cartels is futile and that drug and behavioral health treatment (and housing) will solve the problem. But that ignores a salient point--the less drugs available the less that can be consumed and that will have an impact on the rate and severity of addiction--and thus crime and homelessness. An all of the above approach--including aggressive law enforcement--is vital. 

And making this a Trump-Biden issue gets us nowhere.

The state has seen a drop in overdose deaths but drug usage remains very high. The drug naloxone has much to do with that lower death rate.

A recent WalletHub report pointed to New Mexico as having the highest rate of drug use among teenagers, a report questioned by some experts but there is no doubt that it is high and fertile ground for the next generation to be captured by the cartels.

Consistent interdiction by law enforcement is essential if ABQ and now Santa Fe are going to be cleaned up. The key word being consistent and not just one headline grabbing bust every few years.

The five state bust announced this week revived memories of one in ABQ in September 2022 by the FBI and that netted one million fentanyl pills. But there was little follow-up.

If New Mexico wants to dig out of the drug mess it must lose the prevailing cynicism that the "war on drugs" is an antiquated notion and that a soft touch alone will stop the death and dysfunction. It won't.

CAMPAIGN CHATTER

Drugs and crime will be an agenda leader in the race for ABQ mayor this year but first the 11 candidates who have filed for the post must gather enough signatures to make the ballot and qualify for public financing or raise private money. To do that they have hired the hired guns.

Former US Attorney Alex Uballez signed Roadrunner Strategies consultants Dylan McArthur and Brandon Padilla to run his campaign, but in a sudden switch they are already gone. 

Roadrunner says the firm was not fired but left because there was an unspecified "potential conflict of interest" and that they wish Uballez "all the best." Of course, that didn't stop the competing campaigns from some negative whispering about the early personnel turnover. 

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.