Santa Fe to try new approach to drug & alcohol abuse

Try something new

Santa Fe hopes to lead the nation when it comes to community-minded efforts to reduce drug and alcohol abuse in town. SFR's Leah Cantor reports that a task force has suggested the city move away from prosecuting users and move more toward naloxone distribution, needle exchange services and programs such as LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion). Santa Fe would be only the second city in the country to try such a strategy on a municipal level (after Ithaca, New York), but similar plans have been implemented across Europe with great success.

Bye-bye cottonwood

Sena Plaza, home of La Casa Sena, Santa Maria Provisions, Todos Santos Chocolates and other businesses, will never be the same after this afternoon: The giant, stately cottonwood tree that has provided shade for anywhere from 70 to "hundreds" of years (depending on whom you ask) is coming down ($ TNM). La Casa Sena's owners have long been asking the city for permission to fell the tree, citing fears of falling limbs, but the city (which has say over the removal of "significant" trees) refused until now. Businesses on Sena Plaza will be closed today after receiving notice of the tree activity as late as 4 pm yesterday.

Connect

Looking to get in on the booming film industry in New Mexico, or if you're already in it, want to make some new connections? Head to a networking fair in Albuquerque on Thursday (2-5 pm at the Hyatt Regency, 330 Tijeras NW). We're obviously more about paper media over here, but we hear it ain't too bad a scene to be involved in.

Woof

In a story that remarkably and admirably doesn't include the phrase "Santa Fe has gone to the dogs," SFR intern Nicole Madrid reports that Santa Fe has been ranked the 14th most dog-friendly city in the country. She also included some pretty great pictures of city-folk and their dogs, so there's really no reason not to check that link out, to be honest.

Much more Googleable

Have you ever tried Googling The Magazine? Yeah, we didn't think so. Lauren Tresp, relatively new owner of the magazine (as in, The Magazine), sees the problem inherent in such a generic name of her publication, est. 1992, so she's changed the name to The Magazine by Southwest Contemporary ($ TNM). Since purchasing the art mag in 2017, she's also created its first website and has opened an event space to host magazine-related art shows and salons. Come autumn, the mag will also reduce to six issues a year instead of 10, and its paper stock will change.

This is a surprise

A judge has ruled that New Mexico can issue medical cannabis cards to qualifying patients regardless of their residency. The rule clarification could be made permanent as soon as the end of this month, allowing folks with driver's licenses from any other state to obtain a New Mexico cannabis card.

Never mind

Albuquerque will not be following in the footsteps of Santa Fe when it comes to ranked-choice voting. That City Council withdrew a proposal yesterday to introduce the voting style, which Santa Fe used for the first time in its mayoral election that saw Alan Webber ascend to office.

Starting to dry out

As the Word types this, the sky is making good on predictions of spotty showers throughout the day. Speaking of rain, this El Niño has been a blessing and a half for our water supply, but it's going to start backing off a bit in the next month or so. The National Weather Service in Albuquerque tweeted that we're going to switch over to an ENSO-neutral cycle. We Googled what that means so you don't have to.

Thanks for reading! The Word is headed to El Callejón for tacos tonight, because Tuesday.