SANTA FE—Today, the Senate Rules Committee advanced Senate Memorial 7 with unanimous, bipartisan support. The memorial requests that the Public Education Department declare the week of October 14 through October 18, 2024, as "Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Week." 

Senator Greg Nibert (R-Roswell), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, issued the following statement regarding the memorial:

“While more awareness is good, it feels disingenuous that the majority could only agree to a memorial when we had an opportunity to advance real solutions to address the fentanyl crisis. Bills to address issues of infant fentanyl exposure, and to target criminal enterprises that deal in fentanyl continue to fall on deaf ears. Yet again, we leave Santa Fe without any real actions or solutions.”

A recent Albuquerque Police Department Report (attached below), noted that APD responds to between 50 and 60 reports of infant fentanyl exposure monthly—many of those deadly. Meanwhile, the measures below that would have substantively addressed fentanyl issues are all stalled in committee:

HB 106 FENTANYL EXPOSURE AS CHILD ABUSE

SB 102 RACKETEERING ACT CHANGES

SB 83 CYFD PLAN OF CARE FAILURE ASSESSMENTS