New Mexico In Depth

Blind Drunk, a series about alcohol harm in New Mexico

Ted Alcorn

Alcohol-related causes kill more New Mexicans than fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines combined – nearly three times the national average. Yet this epidemic was hiding in plain sight before the Blind Drunk series exposed it, exploding the myth that the state’s Native population was largely responsible. The series prompted state lawmakers to examine the effects of alcohol abuse, resulting in the proposal of a new Office of Alcohol Prevention and a campaign to raise the state’s alcohol excise tax for the first time in 30 years.