Federal funds aim to target addiction in Rio Arriba

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Wednesday announced new federal spending to help combat opioid addiction in Rio Arriba County, which has had some of the highest rates of fatal drug overdoses in the nation.

A total of $168,795 annually will pay seven members of the AmeriCorps VISTA program over the next five years to assist the thin network of substanceabuse treatment providers.

The funding was announced by U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, all Democrats.

The seven AmeriCorps members will increase the capacity of the Hoy Recovery Program, an Española substance-abuse treatment provider, the announcement said. The members also will assist grandparents raising children of individuals struggling with addiction through Las Cumbres Community Services, an Española behavioral health provider for children.

There were 497 drug overdose deaths in New Mexico in 2016 — four more than in 2015 but well below the 547 reported in 2014 — the state Department of Health reported in July. Rio Arriba County had the highest overdose rate in the state at 89.9 per 100,000 for the years 201216 — more than five times the national average.

President John F. Kennedy first proposed VISTA, short for Volunteers in Service to America, as a domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps, according to the program’s website. President Lyndon B. Johnson launched the program as a part of the War on Poverty.