The Guardian: Deb Haaland Puts Addiction Struggles At Center of New Mexico Governor Bid
Albuquerque, N.M. – Democratic nominee for Governor Deb Haaland’s new ad about her plans to address addiction and treatment was featured in The Guardian.
The piece highlights Haaland’s new ad laying out her plan to tackle addiction and expand behavioral health treatment as Governor. She also draws on her personal recovery story, tying her commitment to this issue. Haaland, who is 35 years sober, understands the challenges and strain substance use puts on families and how hard it can be to get help.
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The Guardian: ‘It takes a lot of work’: Deb Haaland puts addiction struggles at center of New Mexico governor bid
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Now Haaland is writing her next chapter. The Democrat is taking the unusual step of putting her own 35 years of sobriety and her past struggles with alcoholism at the center of her campaign for governor in November’s midterm elections.
In a statewide six-figure broadcast and digital ad buy launching ahead of the election, Haaland links her intimate experience with addiction directly to the public health crisis ravaging local communities.
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In a political era in which personal vulnerability is often weaponised, her campaign is betting that voters in The Land of Enchantment – where the deadly fentanyl crisis has touched families in every corner of the state – will appreciate her candid treatment of a subject once regarded as taboo.
“I look at this as a public health issue,” she emphasised. “I look at this as not somebody with a moral failing but essentially a victim of this terrible disease. We want to make sure that this is looked at as a public health issue, that we move some behavioural health dollars to this area so that people can get the help they need.”
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She proposes a structural redesign to prevent addiction being funneled into the criminal justice system. Haaland proposes creating a state office of community safety that would deploy behavioural health specialists to non-criminal emergency calls on street corners, allowing police officers to focus their resources on violent crime and drug traffickers.
“A lot of these issues with substance use are not criminal in nature and so my office of community safety would ensure that we can help law enforcement to focus on crime. Drug traffickers are part of crime and then we can focus on the people who are suffering.”
Haaland’s campaign trail stops have included visits to extended residential care facilities such as Grand Summit, in Albuquerque, which provides long-term housing, job assistance and financial support for recovering residents.
During a recent stop, Haaland invited programme residents to walk across the street and cast their ballots alongside her. “They felt empowered and they felt like they were part of something larger than themselves,” she reflected.
Haaland’s focus on community health coincides with looming federal challenges. She raised alarm over impending Medicaid rollbacks under the Trump administration, scheduled to begin on 1 January, that could strip addiction treatment coverage from vulnerable state residents. In response, New Mexico has established a Medicaid trust fund intended to provide longer-term support for the programme.
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