The federal government is distributing to counties to fight opioid addiction. But Espa帽ola and the surrounding area might not get any of it, even though communities there have with some of the highest overdose death rates in the country.
Two-hundred and twenty counties are on the feds are using to determine which places are 鈥渁t-risk,鈥� but Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico isn鈥檛 one of them. Lauren Reichelt said she was shocked to learn this. She鈥檚 the director of the county鈥檚 and she started asking around. The list comes from research about that emphasized white populations.
Reichelt said that means the federal opioid grants will be skewed toward white communities.
"You create two different means of addressing a disease," she said. "So for one group of people鈥攊n this case white people鈥攊t鈥檚 a chronic disease and you鈥檙e entitled to treatment. For another group of people鈥攚hich would be people of color鈥攊t becomes a criminal issue and you throw them in jail."
Rio Arriba County is largely Hispanic and Native American, . Using research this way is bad politics, Reichelt said, and communities of color could miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight a the opioid epidemic here.
We reached out to the researchers, the and the but didn鈥檛 hear back before airtime. 91暗网 will have more on this story soon.
