Drugs Nearly Destroyed This New Mexico Town. Meet the Survivors

THE LAND OF RE-ENCHANTMENT –

Dec. 3, 2021 – My family has called Chimayó home for more than 300 years, and I spent most of my summers there with my grandmother in the 1960s and 1970s, surrounded by relatives who lived nearby. Chimayó back then was mostly known for flavorful chiles and the annual pilgrimage to El Santuario, an old adobe church (built by one of my ancestors). After college, I bought some family land and my great-grandfather’s long-unused weaving studio in the village; I went on to write three books about Chimayó and helped create a museum there, to celebrate my love of the place. But in the backdrop, I saw heroin addiction creeping in — a scourge that has been relentless. No one in America is immune to the allure of drugs and alcohol. In Chimayó, addiction has festered for generations in a distinctive trajectory. Here, drug use takes place in deeply intertwined family networks that can either foster the spread of addiction or provide support for people in recovery. And many people are indeed recovering, drawing strength not only from family but from religious traditions, medical interventions and spunky, local nonprofits. Addiction to drugs and alcohol still ravages the region. But for decades, people have mounted a passionate, heartfelt battle. These are some of their stories.

Nelson Jones. I started out doing just pot and alcohol, and the party pills — Percocets, the 543s [Oxycodone]. My step-grandfather would get them prescribed for pain, and Grandma would help me get five or so, so I could sell one or two or three and have two for myself — she thought I was just going to trade them for gas or something. But it don’t matter how you start off with it. With time, you’re not doing it, it’s doing you.