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Access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction is limited in New Mexico, but particularly in rural communities. The Santa Fe Recovery Center is hoping to change that in northwest New Mexico鈥檚 McKinley County with the help of a sizable federal grant.

New Mexico鈥檚 senior U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich is leading a bipartisan call for the Drug Enforcement Administration to make the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine more accessible. In a letter to the agency this week, the group of senators argue the DEA needs to be more transparent about its policies.

People in New Mexico state prisons are unable to access medication for addiction treatment unless they鈥檙e pregnant鈥� even if they had been on medication before being incarcerated or were transferred from a handful of county jails that provide it. A new state law is going to change that.

People incarcerated in New Mexico have limited access to medication-assisted treatment for Opioid Use Disorder. A bill expected to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session would change that by making it state law for all corrections facilities in the state to consistently provide it. Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center Dr. Nathan Birnbaum treats patients returning home from prison and jail and has been working to get the bill in front of lawmakers.

State prisons are required under the U.S. Constitution to provide 鈥渁dequate medical care鈥� to those they incarcerate. However, prisons in New Mexico and 16 other states do not provide inmates with medication for opioid addiction, and neither do most of its county jails. Advocates are calling on lawmakers to expand this treatment in New Mexico lockups in the upcoming legislative session.

As overdose deaths in New Mexico have surged during the pandemic, recent research shows a searing gap in treatment available for Opioid Use Disorder at鈥�

Dozens of organizations around New Mexico help folks who are addicted to opioids. The Bernalillo County Community Health Council is one of them. Council鈥�

An overdose-reversing medication has become an important tool in preventing opioid deaths. But it鈥檚 not as available in Albuquerque as it is in other鈥�