Yesterday State Senator Jacob Candelaria, only days away
from his wedding, had a gun pointed at him in a road rage incident on Academy.
On May 6 City council candidate Zack Quintero had his home broken into. Zack
lives in City Council district 2 not 6. On May 4 UNM Baseball player Jackson
Weller was shot and killed in the Nob Hill area of the city. And in April Postal
worker Jose Hernandez was shot and killed near 98th Street and Tower
Road.
What do all of these incidents have in common? Well one
thing they don’t have in common is the International District (AKA the War
Zone). Gun violence is not just happening in the War Zone even though the War
Zone has more than its fair share of shootings. The common problem in all of
these incidents is the drug trade. Our city has a major problem with drugs. We know this
because of the number of needles that are picked up off our city streets daily.
We can blame a great deal of this problem on former Governor
Martinez. She did great harm to our system of drug and mental health treatment
in this city and state. We can blame our Mayor Tim Keller for putting all of
our city funding into policing over the last year. He is now asking that 50% of
the city budget go to policing. We will never have enough six figure salary
police officers to stop the problems in the City of Albuquerque.
What should the city and state be doing to reduce the city’s problems with gun violence? Well the governor has helped by signing a law which will help with guns. But more money needs to go toward treatment programs. Gangs and drug dealer don’t defend territory where there are no customers. Another way to reduce the problem is to legalize pot. Pot can be used to help treat more serious drug problems. Drug addicted individuals will not go to doctors but they would buy and use legal pot. Decriminalizing it would help treat individuals with more serious drug addictions. Another thing that the state can do is fund the drug court in this city. DA Torrez could send drug cases to this court where offenders would be sent into treatment rather than to jail.
The mayor is right when he says there are no quick fixes to the city’s problem with gun violence. The problem is that his response to this problem has be wrong from the start. More police is not and has never been the answer to building a safer drug free community.
What should the city and state be doing to reduce the city’s problems with gun violence? Well the governor has helped by signing a law which will help with guns. But more money needs to go toward treatment programs. Gangs and drug dealer don’t defend territory where there are no customers. Another way to reduce the problem is to legalize pot. Pot can be used to help treat more serious drug problems. Drug addicted individuals will not go to doctors but they would buy and use legal pot. Decriminalizing it would help treat individuals with more serious drug addictions. Another thing that the state can do is fund the drug court in this city. DA Torrez could send drug cases to this court where offenders would be sent into treatment rather than to jail.
The mayor is right when he says there are no quick fixes to the city’s problem with gun violence. The problem is that his response to this problem has be wrong from the start. More police is not and has never been the answer to building a safer drug free community.
