There\u2019s a new brewpub in my neighborhood.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a pleasant place with a nice outdoor covered patio. Behind the bar is a long gleaming row of taps.<\/p>\n
The menu boasts 36 varieties of beer, cider and hard seltzer. \u00a0It lists 10 different margaritas, including jalapeno and avocado (I have no idea how to make a margarita out of avocado). Another page lists New Mexico wines.<\/p>\n
This is not your father\u2019s neighborhood bar. Brewing beer is now a craft like making jewelry. Drinking it is something like going to an art gallery. It\u2019s the sophisticated thing to do.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still alcohol. It gets you just as drunk as the old-fashioned kind that comes in an aluminum can. And beer can get you just as drunk as wine or hard liquor. You already know that, right?<\/p>\n
New Mexico policy makers have had a rude awakening from the recent series by New Mexico In Depth about the ravages of alcohol and the fact that New Mexico is the worst state in the U.S. The series reminds us that alcohol overuse is not just about drunk driving but also is a factor in gun violence, crime, homicide, suicide and several serious health conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Mexicans die of alcohol-related causes at nearly three times the national average, higher by far than any other state,\u201d says the lead article.\u00a0 \u201cAlcohol is involved in more deaths than fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines combined. In 2020, it killed more New Mexicans under 65 than Covid-19 did in the first year of the pandemic \u2014\u00a0all told, 1,878 people.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have been puzzled as the state has passed laws that make alcohol easier to buy, for more hours and days of the week, at more kinds of locations, and as we have celebrated the growth of the drinking industry as both economic development and an art form.<\/p>\n
The New Mexico in Depth series goes to some pains to emphasize that this is not strictly a Native American problem. \u201cIn New Mexico,\u201d it says, \u201cevery demographic group dies of alcohol-induced causes at a much higher rate than their counterparts nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
It does not add much insight as to what we are doing that causes such bad results here.<\/p>\n
I remember when people too drunk to walk straight could buy liquor from a drive-up window without getting out of their car. I watched Nadine Milford, the grandmother who lost four family members to a drunk driver, march through the Roundhouse demanding change. Our DWI reform efforts included reducing the legal blood alcohol limits. We outlawed the drive-up windows in 1998.<\/p>\n
We passed laws requiring licensing and training not only for bartenders but also for other servers including restaurant waiters who take drink orders.<\/p>\n
The 2021 law outlawed mini liquor bottles, which some commentators say forces problem drinkers to buy the next larger size. This major overhaul of our very complicated liquor licensing system expanded hugely the number of businesses that can legally sell drinks, as long as they are sold with food. We now allow home delivery of liquor.<\/p>\n
Also in 2021, our state supreme court ruled that a store will be civilly liable if gasoline is sold to a drunk driver, putting the burden on the clerk to discern from inside the store whether a driver at the pump is too drunk to buy gas.<\/p>\n
It looks like our reforms have focused on drunk driving, with some success, while liberalizing access to alcohol for the majority who want to drink socially. But we don\u2019t know the answer to why New Mexico\u2019s outcomes, especially in crime and health, are so much worse than most other states.\u00a0 We have to keep asking.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2022<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a new brewpub in my neighborhood. It\u2019s a pleasant place with a nice outdoor covered patio. Behind the bar is a long gleaming row of taps. The menu boasts 36 varieties of beer, cider and hard seltzer. \u00a0It lists … Continue reading