{"id":29086,"date":"2024-02-21T10:41:46","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T17:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/n-m-officials-are-testing-high-schools-wastewater-for-drugs\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T17:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T17:41:46","slug":"n-m-officials-are-testing-high-schools-wastewater-for-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/n-m-officials-are-testing-high-schools-wastewater-for-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"N.M. officials are testing high schools\u2019 wastewater for drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom
Tom Brown, an employee with Eastern Research Group, lowers tubes into a sewer behind Belen High School to test the wastewater. Megan Myscofski\/KUNM<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On an afternoon with blowing dust and sideways snow, two people in bright yellow vests and heavy winter clothes worked over an open manhole in the brush behind Belen High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cIce packs to make sure that everything stays cold. Not that that\u2019s a problem right now,\u201d said Tom Brown, an employee with Eastern Research Group, a company that the state of New Mexico is contracting with to test the wastewater from schools.<\/p>\n

He and a state employee lowered tubes down into the sewer, then suspended a barrel-shaped device at the top. This rig pulled samples throughout the next school day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take 32 samples every 15 minutes. That\u2019s eight hours worth of samples,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

This is happening across the state. Back in September, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order to address gun violence and illegal drug use.<\/p>\n

The order made national news for banning guns in public places. That was struck down within the week by a judge, but the order was broad and included many other mandates.<\/p>\n

One of them is this: wastewater testing at nearly every high school. The governor said this will tell the state which communities need its attention most, but no one at the state level has laid out a clear plan for what they will do with the information once they have it. Advocates say that raises red flags.<\/p>\n

Jonas Armstrong, director of strategic initiatives with the New Mexico Environment Department, said schools reflect their communities, and that\u2019s why it makes sense to test them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can tell us that a substance is present. It can\u2019t tell us who is using it. It can\u2019t tell us how many people are using it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The process tests for 15 different opioids and stimulants, and only gives a positive or negative read. Some of the substances officials are testing for can also show up for legal substances. For example, Adderall can show up as methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

The state posts results online as it receives them and expects to be done with its first round in March. The testing costs have run about $600,000 so far, and the department is asking for more to continue it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of wastewater testing for illicit substances in different ways in different places around the country around the world,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

Wastewater testing for drugs has existed for decades and is more popular in Europe and Australia. Since COVID-19 began, it has become more accepted and common in the U.S., especially for municipalities and universities.<\/p>\n

But not for schools with minors.<\/p>\n

Carlton Poindexter does research measuring contaminants with the United States Department of Agriculture and teaches at Howard University. He said hopefully, this will lead to more resources for kids who need it, but he said there is a risk of stigmatizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if that community already has some other overlapping stigmatizations and perceptions \u2026 that just kind of adds on to it.<\/p>\n

And he echoed the fear of many in these communities that it could lead to more police in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with marginalized communities, they usually don\u2019t have the best experiences with authority figures and police officers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Poindexter said an evidence-based approach should start with the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow aware are they of it and how much say do they have in this process? And should the results come back positive or high, how do they want outside bodies to potentially respond and work with them to address that issue?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Activists like Mikyle Gray with the Southwest Organizing Project in Albuquerque say the state does consult with community-based organizations on ideas for cutting down on illegal drug use. But with the wastewater testing, it feels like that work is falling on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t provide any solutions. It doesn\u2019t provide ways for people who are addicted to find support or treatment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He and his colleague Amanda Gallegos said it\u2019s not news that these drugs are in New Mexico schools. Gallegos said what shocks her is the price tag. She said that money could\u2019ve gone elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could name a couple things off the top of my head,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gallegos said teens need places to go, like a teen center or jobs. They also need more counselors in schools and treatment \u2013 there\u2019s not a lot available in New Mexico for young people dealing with addiction. The state has an ongoing shortage of counselors in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution should come from the impacted people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Source NM<\/a> is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials. This coverage is made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Tom
Tom Brown with Eastern Research Group and Rebecca Valdenada, who works in the New Mexico Department of Transportation, test wastewater at Belen High School. (Photo by Megan Myscofski \/ KUNM)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials, however, lack clear plan for the results<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,28,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29086"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}