Reducing Substance Misuse in Quay County: Strategies and Insights

Brenda
Oct, Thu, 2024

Reducing Substance Misuse in Quay County: Strategies and Insights

Last Updated on October 14, 2024 by Brenda

Listen to the Truth About Drugs and Substance Use Here

New Mexico was recently named the worst state for substance misuse by Wallet Hub. In Quay County, the Partnership Addressing Substance Struggles, a committee of the Quay County Health Council, has been reviewing the data and working on implementing environmental strategies to reduce substance use in Quay County and reducing overdose deaths.

During this podcast Rachelle Moon and Brenda discuss some of the issues in Quay County and even share some good news. This biggest substance misuse issue we have according to the data and reports from our medical community is chronic disease and death caused by long-term alcohol use.

Drinking 7 or more drinks per week defines excess drinking and if this is done on a continual basis, it will lead to many chronic diseases. A drink is equal to 1 can of beer, 1 ounce of hard liquor, or 5 ounces of wine. Quay County’s long term alcohol use death rate is 87% which is much higher than the states.

We have learned that most youth get alcohol from the adults in their lives. Either with our without permission. Are you monitoring the bottles in your liquor cabinet? According to the YRRS, the amount of youth drinking alcohol is going down along with the number of youth receiving alcohol from their parents. Our focus group showed that peers is one way youth get alcohol. Those who are 21 share with their younger friends and as the friends become 21 they do the same because it makes them cool. We did learn that there are adults, like coaches, in some of our youths lives that make a difference by calling out alcohol use. Data shows that youth that experiment with alcohol before the age of 13 are more likely to use alcohol excessively as adults.

Some good news is that alcohol use among our youth and especially those under 13 in Quay County has been going down, but it is being replaced by vaping. Our Nicotine and Tabacco use rates are higher than the state for our middle and high school students. This rate had been dropping before flavored vapes were marketed to young people. We have heard from our school personnel in all of our districts that vaping has become a big problem. Vapes are easy to hide and often look like school supplies. The amount of nicotine in one vape cartridge is equal to one package of cigarettes. In addition, there are many other chemicals in vapes along with water vaper which is dangerous to our lungs. We do not know the long term effect of these various chemicals. Vaping is not safer than smoking.

One caring adult can make a huge difference in the life of a child. This adult does not have to be a parent. Do you have a child that you listen to and provide with positive experiences? You can help a child develop resiliency skills and become successful adults.

Resiliency is the ability to cope and recover from bad situations. There are several categories of resiliency. Our mental health professionals, tell us that many of the adults and youth they see are lacking coping skills. This problem was compounded with the lock downs and online schools caused by the pandemic. These skills include: