Las Cruces officials review opioid-settlement needs assessment as fentanyl cited as leading cause of fatal overdoses

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — City and county officials on May 13 reviewed a preliminary community needs assessment tied to national opioid settlements and discussed next steps for spending the funds, which the presenters said are intended to "address the harms of the opioid crisis." Liz Olivares of Crimson Research at New Mexico State University presented preliminary data showing fentanyl as the leading substance in local fatal overdoses and urging more outreach and data before final recommendations are made.

The assessment — compiled from administrative records, seven focus groups and a 53-person street outreach survey — found that fentanyl (including laced products referred to locally as “blues”), methamphetamine and alcohol are among the substances driving harm in Dona Ana County. "The number one causing fatal overdose is fentanyl — in the county at 46 percent," Olivares told the joint City Council and County Commission. She emphasized the findings are preliminary and that 2023 data are still being cleaned and are not yet published.

Why it matters: the city is slated to receive nearly $10 million from the national settlements and the county roughly $14.5 million over 17 years; presenters said the city has already received about $3.5 million and the county about $4.0 million. The money is intended for treatment, prevention and related services, and the advisory council will recommend priorities to each governing body separately.

Presenters outlined principles guiding spending: "spend money to save lives, use evidence to guide spending, invest in youth prevention, focus on racial equity, develop a fair and transparent process," Shara Thorpe, county opioid settlement coordinator, told the meeting. She said the local advisory council was formed using readiness indicators and includes community members, service providers and harm-reduction experts; Vital Strategies and the Bloomberg Overdose Prevention Initiative were named as partners that funded portions of the work.

What the data show: Olivares summarized three data streams. Administrative data reviewed by the team indicate New Mexico has one of the highest overdose rates nationally and a threefold rise in deaths since 1990; in Dona Ana County Olivares cited a fatal-overdose rate of 26.9 (presented as a county figure), and a higher-than-state proportion of fentanyl-involved deaths. Focus-group participants — including first responders, behavioral-health providers and people with lived experience — consistently identified youth, first responders, the unhoused and low-income residents as highly affected groups. In the outreach survey, 52.8 percent of respondents said they were unhoused; 74.3 percent said they would accept medication-assisted treatment.

Discussion and disagreements: councilors and commissioners pressed presenters on sample size and geographic coverage. Commissioner Charles Hernandez and others noted the outreach sample was drawn from Las Cruces hot spots and did not include surrounding communities such as Chaparral, Hatch and parts of the South Valley; Olivares confirmed the 53 outreach participants were recruited within Las Cruces. Athena Huckaby, an advisory-council member who conducted many outreach interviews, said building trust in street outreach takes time and urged greater inclusion of people with living experience in future rounds.

Local officials also flagged an apparent mismatch between focus-group emphasis on youth and administrative overdose data that show high overdose deaths among older adults. "If the majority of people dying are 50 and older, that speaks to a disconnect between the focus groups and fatal-overdose data," advisory member Athena Huckaby said. Olivares acknowledged year-to-year variation in age distributions and reiterated that more cleaned data are needed.

Immediate needs and community proposals: public commenters and service providers urged quick, targeted action. Robert Maitland, who said he works in the field, urged the city and county to expand an existing six-bed medical-assisted detox to 10 beds to reduce wait lists. Nicole Martinez, director of Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, described rental-assistance pilots for people with opioid use disorder and urged flexible funding for permanent supportive housing, harm-reduction vending machines at hot spots and partnership on outreach.

Next steps and timeline: presenters said Crimson Research will finish the full report, present it to the advisory council, and the council will identify data gaps and prioritize core strategies. Shara Thorpe told officials the advisory council aims to bring prioritized recommendations to the city and county by the end of summer and establish systems for ongoing data collection and outcome reporting.

Action at the meeting: Councilor Graham moved to adjourn the joint work session; Councilor Flores seconded. The roll-call vote was recorded as 'Yes' by the councilors present and the mayor, and the joint session recessed for 10 minutes before continuing the work session.

What remains unresolved: presenters and officials agreed on the need for both improved surveillance and immediate life-saving interventions; they differed on pacing — some urged rapid pilot programs, others emphasized filling data gaps first to avoid misdirected investments. Presenters repeatedly described the findings as preliminary and non-generalizable until more outreach and cleaned administrative data are incorporated.

The advisory council and presenters said they will return with a finalized needs assessment and expenditure recommendations later this summer.