by Richard Skolnik
New Mexico’s government urgently needs to take the steps required to reduce alcohol-related deaths. In 2021, more than 2,200 New Mexicans died of alcohol-related causes. Such deaths occurred at the highest rate of any state in the US, at 34.3 per 100,000 people. These deaths come with enormous social and economic impacts on families and communities throughout New Mexico. About 1,500 of those deaths could have been avoided if New Mexico would have lowered its rate of alcohol-related deaths to the national average.
The most effective way to achieve this is well-known⎯reduce the demand for alcohol by significantly raising alcohol taxes. This is the same approach the US has taken so successfully to reduce tobacco-related deaths.
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