Athena R. Huckaby, MPH

06/03/2026

Four New Mexicans have died in two recent overdose incidents that generated statewide headlines.

What has struck me most is how quickly the people who died disappeared from the story.

The public conversation has focused on responder illnesses, unknown exposures, hazmat teams, and fears about fentanyl. Meanwhile, the people who lost their lives have largely become footnotes.

As someone who works in overdose prevention and harm reduction, I want more information, not less.

I want to know what toxicology testing found.

I want to know what environmental testing found.

I want to hear from medical toxicologists, emergency physicians, occupational health experts, and harm reduction professionals who can help the public understand what happened.

Those voices have been absent from the reporting.

Good journalism does more than repeat official statements. It seeks independent expertise, asks difficult questions, and helps the public understand what is known, what is unknown, and what evidence supports the conclusions being presented.

Most importantly, I hope we do not lose sight of the four New Mexicans who died.

Their lives mattered. Their families are grieving. Understanding what could have prevented those deaths should be at the center of this conversation.

The goal should not be fear. The goal should be learning, prevention, and saving lives.

Law enforcement said a total of 10 first responders were hospitalized for a possible drug overdose at a home in Silver City. FULL STORY ⬇️

06/01/2026

When a corporation needs help, it's called economic development. When a family needs help paying rent, it's called dependency.

Two stories caught my attention this week.

The Legislative Finance Committee found that New Mexico spent more than $500 million on economic development tax breaks in FY25, with limited overall return.

The same Legislative Finance Committee is now asking why homelessness continues to rise despite significant investments in homelessness services.

Those two conversations probably belong in the same room.

We don't have a homelessness crisis. We have an affordability crisis that shows up as homelessness.

Housing costs have increased. Rent has increased. Childcare is expensive. Health care is expensive. Wages have not kept pace. More and more New Mexicans are one emergency away from losing their housing.

Then we act surprised when homelessness increases.

The article about homelessness notes that thousands of people maintained or accessed housing through these programs. That sounds like the programs are helping people. The problem is that more people are being pushed into housing instability than these programs can keep up with.

We keep treating homelessness as a personal failure when it is often the predictable outcome of economic policy.

If tax breaks are an investment, then housing stability is an investment too.

New Mexico can spend hundreds of millions subsidizing corporations. New Mexico can also invest directly in keeping people housed.

Universal Basic Income. Direct cash assistance. Affordable housing. Childcare. Health care. Behavioral health care.

None of this should be controversial. People are more likely to stay housed when they can afford housing.

06/01/2026

📣 Are you currently receiving behavioral health services in New Mexico, or supporting a family member who is?

The New Mexico Health Care Authority is hosting a virtual listening session on June 24 and is seeking feedback from people receiving services and their families.

The people who use these services every day have valuable insight into what is working, where gaps exist, and what changes could improve care. Their perspectives should help inform decisions about the future of New Mexico's behavioral health system.

🗓 June 24, 2026
⏰ 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. MST
💻 Virtual

If this applies to you or someone in your family, I hope you'll consider participating.

Please see the flyer below for registration details.

05/30/2026

A single positive toxicology screen got my husband dismissed from care for a needed spinal surgery here in New Mexico. What other health issues don't get addressed because providers inappropriately use toxicology testing to determine who gets care and who doesn't?

05/30/2026

Very honored to have been a guest on Project Basecamp. ❤️

05/29/2026

✊🏾 Juneteenth is coming up, and I have availability to provide free naloxone (Narcan) training and community overdose prevention education on June 19.

I'm looking for a Juneteenth celebration, community event, church gathering, neighborhood event, or organization in Southwest New Mexico that would like a table, brief presentation, or full training.

Counties I can serve:
📍 Catron
📍 Socorro
📍 Grant
📍 Hidalgo
📍 Luna
📍 Sierra
📍 Doña Ana
📍 Otero

Participants can learn:
💙 How to recognize an overdose
💙 How to administer naloxone
💙 New Mexico's Good Samaritan protections
💙 Local treatment and recovery resources
💙 Drug checking and overdose prevention resources

Naloxone can be provided at no cost.

If your organization is hosting a Juneteenth event and would like to partner, send me a message or tag someone I should connect with.

05/27/2026

Well, now The New York Times is at it.

This is a pattern in overdose reporting, and it’s so frustrating.

A law enforcement agency holds a press conference, and the reporters repeat the claims almost word for word. Then the scientific caveats get buried halfway down the article after the scary headline has already done its job.

Where is the actual reporting here?

Where is the quote from the American College of Medical Toxicology about incidental fentanyl exposure?

Where is the toxicologist?

Where is the local New Mexico harm reduction organization?

Where is the addiction medicine physician or public health expert adding context?

New Mexico has people doing nationally respected work in harm reduction and overdose prevention. None of those voices made it into this article.

Instead, strong implications that responders were "poisoned" by fentanyl exposure while also admitting:
• toxicology is still pending
• investigators do not know exactly what caused the symptoms
• investigators do not believe the substances were airborne

That context should not be treated like a footnote.

Three people died. That is the tragedy here. Those deaths deserve careful, evidence-based reporting, not fear-driven narratives built around speculation and police press conferences.

The way these stories get framed is crucially important. It shapes public perception. It shapes stigma. It shapes whether people feel safe stepping in to help during an overdose emergency.

Public health reporting should inform people, should show several perspectives, and should not encourage panic.

More than a dozen emergency workers were treated after responding to a report of an overdose at a New Mexico home.

05/22/2026

I’m surprised to see KRWG Public Media run this Associated Press piece without adding more local context or public health framing.

Right now, investigators are still trying to determine what caused these deaths. Drugs were reportedly present at the scene, naloxone revived at least one person, and some first responders later experienced symptoms.

What has not been established is that there was some kind of mysterious toxic exposure causing responders to become ill. In fact, the article itself states investigators do not believe the substance was airborne.

That distinction is important because stories like this can unintentionally reinforce years of misinformation around “contact overdoses” and casual fentanyl exposure fears, despite repeated guidance from medical toxicologists and public health experts.

KRWG had the opportunity to add local context, expert voices, or even basic public health framing to a national wire story about overdose and drug exposure. Choosing to simply run the AP piece as written is still a choice, and I think it misses the mark.

Public radio outlets especially should understand that the way overdose stories are framed shapes public perception, stigma, and even whether people feel safe stepping in to help during an overdose emergency.

We care about responder safety. We should also care about accuracy, evidence, and avoiding fear-based narratives before toxicology results are available.

The mark was missed on this important public health communication.

Three people were admitted to the hospital Wednesday. One — an emergency medical services official — has since been released, according to Mountainair Mayor Peter Nieto. The substance in question has yet to be identified.

05/11/2026

People are going to need to grapple with what studies like this mean for the old moral framework around alcoholism.

A new study in found that people with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) who received semaglutide (Ozempic) had significant reductions in heavy drinking compared to placebo.

That is fascinating!

A medication designed to affect appetite, metabolic signaling, and reward pathways also changed alcohol consumption. I think that tells us something important about the biology of craving and compulsive behavior.

For years, people in recovery and harm reduction spaces have talked about the connection between alcohol use, sugar cravings, dopamine, reward-seeking behavior, and metabolism. Many people have also noticed anecdotally that GLP-1 medications seem to reduce alcohol cravings. Now we are starting to see controlled research backing some of that up.

To me, this further challenges the simplistic idea that Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is primarily a moral failing or a lack of willpower, or lack of a "spiritual solution." If changing gut hormones and metabolic signaling changes alcohol consumption, then biology is clearly playing a much larger role than many people have wanted to admit.

I also think the harm reduction implications here are important. A person does not have to become a perfect abstinence-based recovery success story overnight for meaningful positive change to happen. If someone is drinking less, blacking out less, improving their health, staying housed, keeping relationships intact, or reducing chaos in their life, those outcomes are amazing and important and possibly life saving.

The science around SUD keeps moving farther away from punishment and shame and closer to understanding the brain, the body, and the environments people live in.

Semaglutide showed robust therapeutic effects in treatment-seeking participants with obesity and alcohol use disorder and this trial supports previous preclinical and clinical findings suggesting GLP-1 receptor agonists as a potential novel treatment target for alcohol use disorder.

05/06/2026

It was great to help to facilitate the Nurturing Futures workshop in my role as Special Project Manager with Doña Ana County Healthy and Human Services.