Addiction and Recovery in Mesa County

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS –

Oct. 11, 2023 – Now 35 and almost four years sober, Murillo has worked as a youth mentor, become a Spotify artist under the moniker of “The Modern Day Monk,” and repeatedly made the dean’s list at Colorado Mesa University where she studied clinical psychology.

This change did not occur overnight. For Murillo, her sobriety is the result of decades of struggle and support from her community. However, long-term sobriety is still out of reach for thousands of Mesa County residents.

Addiction and alcoholism have proven to be an overwhelming challenge to Mesa County. Grand Junction and its surrounding area have what some say is an undeserved reputation among the rest of Colorado as a town with a drug problem. According to Mesa County Community Health Planner Brandon Gray, Grand Junction’s proximity to I-70 is one of the primary reasons for this reputation. as one of the largest population centers between Denver and Salt Lake City, Grand Junction is a popular area for drug traffickers, Gray said.

In 2022, the Western Colorado Drug Task Force seized over 207,000 grams of illegal substances. County surveys, though, found that the actual rate of addiction among Mesa County residents is comparable to the national average.