Albuquerque Journal: Healing our communities from fentanyl requires immediate action

July 13, 2026

Albuquerque, N.M. – In case you missed it, Deb Haaland, who is the Democratic nominee for New Mexico governor, wrote about her plans to tackle the fentanyl crisis in the Albuquerque Journal.

The column addresses the recent whistleblower report on the DEA tactic that allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to enter New Mexico communities, in order to build a larger case. Haaland addresses the steps that will need to be taken to heal our communities from fentanyl and shares her plans to invest in public safety as governor.

The recent revelation about federal agents knowingly allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to enter New Mexico communities is not only cause for alarm, it is also a call to action. Any New Mexican who has seen a loved one fall into the traps of fentanyl knows that this drug is not one to turn a blind eye to.

New Mexico lives are not to be played with in the pursuit of a bigger case. While watching a delivery of 74,000 fentanyl pills, the Drug Enforcement Administration looked on as thousands of New Mexicans got hooked, died or had their lives changed drastically.

Think about the student at the University of New Mexico who stopped going to class after their best friend died of a fentanyl overdose, the father who couldn’t show up to work because he lost his child, the small business owner who had to close their doors because they lost their spouse. These reckless actions by federal agents are irreversible.

If I’m elected governor, I’ll make sure that our attorney general is fully equipped to take legal action against the U.S. Department of Justice and hold federal officials who were involved accountable. I will coordinate all law enforcement agencies to get illegal drugs off our streets.

As this process is investigated and we have a clear picture of what happened, we still have to deal with the ramifications of the hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills that entered our state. Unfortunately this isn’t a new phenomenon in our state and if we are serious about resolving the drug crisis, we need to act with urgency. That means we are going to need to increase funding for law enforcement, rehab treatment centers, behavioral health workers and behavioral health facilities. We will increase the support and capacity for specialized treatment courts that divert individuals from jail into recovery. We need to get people who need help connected to the help they need.

We also have to start early to reduce the risk of kids being able to interact with these drugs. This requires investing in after-school mentorship, extracurriculars, paid internship programs, and launching programs that provide environments for learning technical and social skills. These outcomes are more attainable when we have support in our communities — we will work to expand outreach to local businesses and nonprofits and youth engagement options.

Hundreds of thousands of new fentanyl pills infiltrating our communities don’t just lead to deaths, overdoses or new patients at a rehab center; they disrupt students’ learning, force businesses to close and cause people to lose their jobs. That means everything from education to healthcare to our broader economy have been impacted.

Now more than ever, New Mexico needs to aggressively approach the fentanyl crisis and get illegal drugs off our streets. I will support law enforcement agencies and ensure they have the tools they need to do their jobs, including increased coordination between all law enforcement agencies so that we don’t allow fentanyl to reach the very communities that our law enforcement officers are working tirelessly to protect.

Meeting with law enforcement officials across New Mexico, I have heard the same struggles: Fentanyl has taken over their communities and they have never seen a drug like it. We can’t continue to allow large shipments of fentanyl to take over our streets, but we also have to look toward the future and have adequate treatment and recovery options for those who have been impacted.

As governor, I’m ready to tackle the fentanyl crisis and ensure that the federal government is held accountable for the irreversible damage it has done to our state.