OPINION: Española's crisis demands more than judgment

A recent viral video labeled Española, New Mexico, the “drug capital” of the United States. It showed haunting images — unhoused individuals, shuttered buildings and streets painted with despair. But what it didn’t show is the full truth of our community.

I was raised in Española. I graduated from its public schools. I now work nationally in education policy and leadership. And I can say with certainty: The struggles are real — but so is our strength. The video in question, filmed in just two days, reduced generations of layered stories into a headline meant to provoke clicks, not change.

Addiction in our community is not fiction. But neither is it the whole story. It doesn’t start in darkness — it often begins in the light: a prescribed medication, a trauma unhealed, a cycle inherited. I’ve seen it with my own family. It hurts deeply. But turning that pain into entertainment erases context and stalls solutions.

Videos like this invite national pity and local shame, but they rarely bring resources or reform. They flatten Española into a stereotype, as if our challenges define us entirely. But our town is not a cautionary tale — it’s a community. And communities deserve more than commentary. They deserve commitment.

There are facts that matter here. Yes, addiction is rampant. Yes, our youth face daunting odds. But calling our city the “drug capital” obscures the underlying failures: decades of underfunded behavioral health care, limited recovery options, generational poverty and systemic neglect. Criminalization has done little but fill jails, while trauma runs untreated.

The video’s creator claimed to “raise awareness,” but such narratives rarely benefit the people they feature. We’ve seen this before — outsiders document decay, then disappear. Meanwhile, we’re left to pick up the pieces, watching our youth absorb messages that define them by what’s broken rather than what’s possible.

And there is so much possibility. I know students from Española who have earned doctorates, launched businesses, and serve their communities as doctors, engineers and educators. My cousin is a physician here in New Mexico. My former student, Sam LeDoux, now a city councilman, advocates fiercely for his hometown, offering real solutions — not just soundbites.

To fix what’s broken, we need investments that reflect our value — not labels that diminish it. That includes robust youth programs, mental health infrastructure, workforce training and treatment facilities that treat addiction as a health issue, not a crime. It means state and federal leaders must stop treating rural towns like afterthoughts.

We need more than observers — we need allies.

Española is not nameless. It’s not faceless. It is home to generations who work hard, care deeply and love this valley despite its wounds. Our children don’t need more reasons to feel hopeless. They need to see what recovery looks like. What success looks like. What home can look like — with help.

So to those who watched the video from afar: don’t just judge us — join us. Come with resources, with partnership and with purpose. Help us build what’s needed, not just comment on what’s missing.

Española is not just a place with a problem. It’s a community with potential.