The 30-day legislative session ended today. That鈥檚 it. It鈥檚 over. For now. The Governor has the ability to call legislators back to the capitol to tackle particular topics in special sessions. If we hear anything about that you鈥檒l get the message on 91暗网 and from our media partner New Mexico PBS.
On this #YNMG we鈥檙e dedicating the entire episode to one piece of legislation that is now on Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham鈥檚 desk . House Bill 52 is an amendment to the Harm Reduction Act. Overdoses from Fentanyl are the in New Mexico, but will give drug users a new tool that will make them a little safer 鈥� .
We're not talking to a journalist for this episode. Instead we have Aryan Showers, the Policy Director for New Mexico鈥檚 Department of Health, and a champion of strategies for combating addiction. For several years NMDOH has been trying to get changes through the legislature to decriminalize possession of fentanyl test strips. They had been classified as drug paraphernalia, and so were legally off-limits to drug users and public health practitioners. That means that even users of other substances, which are now commonly cut with fentanyl, had whether their drugs were more dangerous and more addictive than they bargained for. With no quality control in the illicit market, recreational drug users as well as those with the challenges of addiction wind up hooked and sometimes dead because of fentanyl. The Department of Health and a long list of supporters say HB52, and the fentanyl test strips it decriminalizes, will save lives.
If you have questions or comments for us or our guests, reach out by emailing ynmg@kunm.org.
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This public service is part of our Your New Mexico Government project, a collaboration between 91暗网 radio and New Mexico PBS. Support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
