How the fentanyl problem here is really bad. Yeah. What?
How did it get in? Why did it get so bad here? [Music] Sorry to say.
Hey, bro. I just I used to be a heroinetic and then fentanyl [Music] came. I won't say names, nothing like that, you know, but a lot of us got stuck on on the fat.
I I know for a fact that myself, look, I I replaced it with alcohol, you know, just we're addicts. There's there's it's a bad place, bro. Not of us group like this.
So, you know, it's a rough life, man. Oh my goodness. What is happening to America?
All right. This dispatch comes to you from Espanola, New Mexico. You've probably never heard of Espanola.
And you're wondering, why are you here? Well, because it's what you guys want. This place is not nice.
There's a lot of bad stuff happening. When we go to nice places, not as many people watch. When we go to bad places, you guys want to see troubled, struggling places and communities.
Well, that's what this is. This is supposedly the druginfected capital of the country right here, little Espanola, New Mexico. Population 10,000.
So, we're going to hang out in in this area today and drive around and check stuff out and see if it's as bad as they say it is and maybe try to talk to people and bring you a report from the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, Espanola, here on a late winter day in a very dead downtown. That used to be an important place right there. And there's nothing left.
It's pretty much what the rest of the place looks [Music] [Music] like. All right. Go for it.
Also, one more thing I want everyone to know that addicts are human beings, too. We just had it rough. So, please, all you people that are out there that are hypocritical towards us, I could honestly say that I know I have more intelligence than most people, you know, and therefore, please don't be so quick to judge us.
We're all human. And may God bless everybody. and much love to everybody.
That's Lucas. He's a drug user and he's homeless. One of hundreds of people wandering around this place without a plan or a purpose.
Ruined his life on fentanyl. Now, well, it's just day to day for Lucas. I'm going to come back to Lucas later.
Boy, does he have a story to tell. What in the hell? We just got into Espanola.
This is the first thing we see out here. I can only imagine why they had to board that up. Pretty sure that was probably a crackhead den.
Crackheads love abandoned hotels. Espanola, New Mexico, the low rider capital of the world. place has seen better days.
We're in northern New Mexico along the Rio Grand River. All around us are southern Rockies. It's kind of in the desert, kind of in the prairie, kind of out in the middle of nowhere.
We're only about 20 minutes from Los Alamos, which is the richest, most successful part of the entire state. Espanola is way different than that. So, like a lot of stops in New Mexico, Espanola used to be a stop along a major railroad line.
Then in the 1920s, this became the region's most important wool producer. Bunch of textiles out here in farms. But we've been through this a ton before.
The railroads went kaput. A lot of people left town. By the 1950s, the place began to fall apart.
The people who stayed behind, they turned to farming along the Rio Grand River, and they made a decent go of it. But the place never really thrived again. Over the last 20 years, they tried to fix the place up.
They tried to bring in more modern businesses and stimulate the economy, but it didn't really work. People managed to get by here, but there's a lot of poverty here these days. Today, there's 10,000 people.
Believe it or not, the average home price here is $310,000. What the hell? You see stuff like this all over town.
It's kind of a strange dichotomy to see this place. It's kind of messed up. And then off in the distance is one of the fancier ski resorts, TA in the southwest, kind of towering above off in the distance here of northern New Mexico.
All right, and now for the part that you guys came to watch for, the drug part. Espanola has been called the drug capital of the country. The overdose rate here is 42 per 100,000.
The national average is seven per 100,000. And look at this. There are a bunch of drug treatment centers in town.
They're all over the place, including the one right there behind me. In in there, they do needle exchanges and hand out Narcan. Their website says in the last 11 years, they've handed out 7,000 doses of Narcan.
And they've done 1,700 overdose reversals right inside of there in 12 years. Every week, somebody dies in town here. That's the highest rate in the state.
Yeah. So, here's another outpatient drug alcohol counseling that's no longer open. Looks like it's been closed for a long time.
I don't know why they're closing them down. Maybe money. I'm sure cuz they definitely need it here.
But they've got a college in town. No excuses. And from what I hear, it's free in in New Mexico if you keep a good grade point average.
I think everybody gets free college if you if you get good grades. There's no excuse to not better your lives here. There's plenty of opportunity.
Crime here is bad, bad, bad. That's why we're here. And the drugs.
Espanola is famous among New Mexicans. Word is out. There's junkies all over town wandering around.
Cause a big problem here. The drug use here is so bad that when you go to the pharmacy and get pain pills, they make you buy Narcan, too. I've never heard of that before, but it's true.
The cops here, they're just overwhelmed. They only pay about 25 bucks an hour to patrol the streets. So, they have to call in the state police or the county sheriff on some nights to handle all the calls.
And then sometimes the nonprofits and the churches step in and they try to help when they can. But, as you know, New Mexico is a poor place. Drgs and poverty are some of the worst in the country.
Fenol is like really easy to get right now. Yeah. sometimes.
But all I know is that I've been trying to change my life, but you know, it's just everything's just been hard. I know a lot of us have tried a lot, bro. And you know, uh, the fenol problem actually helped a lot of heroin addicts because it's not as bad as heroin was, you know, so it's easier to get off of honestly, you know, but we're all addicts, so like me myself, I replaced it with this, you know, but that's just the life of an addict, you know, But lost I lost there a lot of things bro you know just family a lot of my friends I passed away from the fan issue lot of overdoses I'm not sure what the hell is going on dude but it's there's something you know it's just not right man and nobody's nobody's doing [ __ ] about nothing but I'm going to I I made a petition last tonight and I'm typing it out.
I'm going to I'm going to have everybody sign that petition, bro, because there there's there's money coming in for people for you mean to help people and nobody knows where the [ __ ] is going, bro. You know you mean Okay, there's money coming in to help you guys, but none of that money is making it to you. No, none of that money's making nobody.
They say they're doing this and doing that for, you know, for our people here, but it's not happening, bro. I don't see nothing. They say they say, "Okay, like like the shelter, they say the shelter, it's supposed to be open to help us, you know, they're kicking everybody out, bro.
People are supposed to be, you know, like they're supposed to help people out, bro. It's only open 3 days a week. Look, that's how Look how look how Yeah, look how [ __ ] cold it is, bro.
You know, like what? I don't understand what the hell's happening here, bro. You know, and then they're just kicking people out, bro.
And they're not they're not helping nothing, bro. And people need a whole lot more assistance, you know? I know I know like I everyone that I known bro is dead and gone or people that I have no idea what the hell happened to people you know like even myself like it's just it's been rough you know but there's an issue here in Espa and it's things need to change you know somebody needs to speak up [Music] with Everything that's going on with the economy right now, it feels like we're all living on shaky ground, right?
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So they say that heroin came up into Espanola up I25 from Mexico and that was bad enough. And today it's fentanyl that's really ruining this place. It's tearing families apart.
Kids are raising themselves. People are completely lost. The poor have become even poorer.
And it's pretty it's tragic. And sadly behind me there it's a fire station and back there is a baby box, a donation box that people can put their unwanted children in. Um they had to do that because there were so many teenagers in town that were throwing their unwanted babies into the dumpsters in town.
That's how bad fentanyl has wrecked this place. And what is also sad about that is that we're surrounded by schools. Uh all around me are elementary schools and preschools that have to to deal with this.
It's just really really messed up here. It's why we need to close our borders down, folks. We saw it in Albuquerque how tragic it is.
This whole entire state's been wrecked by fentanyl and it's because it's just a major drug distribution site and we're so close to Mexico. Shut the border down people. Espanola is uh right on the banks of the Rio Grand, which is right there.
And uh there's a lot of stuff that goes on down there in the riverbeds, I heard. But I'm not going to go down to the riverbeds cuz I'm not being paid enough money to do that. Just trust me, there's tragedy down there.
And there's dispensaries everywhere. I've talked about that a lot. You can't go a mile without seeing a dispensary here in New Mexico.
And and right now we're on Riverside Drve. This is the main drag here in Espanola. It's where all their gas stations and strip malls and stuff are at.
Fast food. Really nothing good for you. Lots of closed down stuff as you can see.
This is um Junkie Central, I was told, or where most of the people who are having the drug issues kind of linger and hang out and beg and steal and whatever. Oh, and there's Goodwill over here. which I need to figure out how to get to.
Oh, there's some tents back there. Okay. Oh, this is real now.
Oh, the cops are here. Oh, snap. Hold on now.
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
All right. Bear with me as I turn. The sun is gonna be really bright right now until I get behind this building.
There we go. All right, there's a junkie. Um, I see a bunch of stuff going on back here.
Oh [ __ ] Oh my god. Holy crap. Hold on.
Oh [ __ ] All right. So, there are this is probably the biggest um gathering of this that I've seen in New Mexico. I mean, I've seen my fair share of this stuff, but this is bad.
I don't I Old Nick used to just walk right through there and uh talk to people. New Nick does not do that because of what happened in Alaska. So, I'm going to sit in here and I'm going to show it to you.
Okay. Well, there you go. Numero uno here in Espanola for the Noasa people.
Muchos Dros. And this is where everything goes down. So, I'm pretty sure that person's smoking drugs.
I saw him or her doing doing it. I saw it. I swear took a hit of crack or something.
But this is the state of affairs all over Espanola. Oh, here's another one. Make sure my door's locked.
Don't get caught slipping here. He's not going to like this if he discovers what I'm doing, but it's the reality of the world. This is what we have here in America.
We've got all kinds of problems like this, tragedies around every corner. You've probably never even heard of Espanola, New Mexico. But, you know, we continued forever to send money to other countries to fix their problems.
And yet on our own streets, we have our own problems just like this with people who have really no hope or future that are just living their lives like this that could use the help and the money and the resources if they so chose. A lot of these people don't want the help. That's the problem.
They want to live like this. But there's some that do want the help. And you know, if we had enough money and resources, we could probably help this.
Or duh, we could stop this [ __ ] from coming into the country. Wouldn't make it so easy for everybody to be addicted to drugs because there wouldn't be as much drugs around. China, Mexico, they're killing us.
They've turned our big part of our population into this bunch of junkies and homeless that are no use to us anymore. And that's the reality of it. These people have no future.
They're they're useless. They're a burden on our society and they're a threat to a lot of us because they steal, they rob, um they're angry. a few blocks away.
That's when I found all the drama. I was just driving around. It was just some random evening in a part of town that I just happened to come across.
Nobody told me to go here, but I found it. There are a lot of shady people I can say wandering around that don't look healthy. So, these two guys right here are like super shady.
That one guy, I know it's kind of hard to see. I'll try to get a still. He was looking at me like he was the devil.
I am not kidding. I'm on a got to catch them all mission right now. There are shady people everywhere.
And I'm trying to show them. There's a bunch more over here. I'm just going to They're not going to like this, but I'm going to do it anyway.
These people are just standing around. I think somebody's camping. Um, put my window up.
And you see this all over in little groups of two or three. And I just have no purpose in life except stand around and do that. There's a saying, I'm not going to get out hustled by a crackhead.
They work hard. They're busy. And here's somebody else staying busy today.
He's got Windex. Maybe he's washing windows for money. I don't know.
He's clearly another victim here in Espanola. We're right here in the Chili's parking lot, which is where I was going to take Kim for dinner. I don't know about that.
Now, just don't leave anything in her car. Here inside of Chili's, you got to have a door code to get to the bathroom. I'm not kidding.
I have never seen that in a chain restaurant before. Some you see that in gas stations, but Oh my god, they're like all over this parking lot. Every Oh my god, that guy's having a hard time.
And then over here by the pet store, there's somebody else having a rough time. I'm in this Walmart/ Lowe's parking lot and I think there's at least 20 people that are um not doing very well. There's another one.
Looks like he's trying to figure out what he's doing. [Music] Fentanyl is the reason for most of [Music] this. I mean, you can't go into the shopping centers without seeing this um all over the place.
people that are drug addicts or or homeless or both probably just in this one parking lot alone. There's two more. And then this guy, he's just sitting sitting in the carts and people are just going about their day.
You know, you you go to get a cart and there's a homeless stuff in it or there's a homeless junkie messing with you or lingering or whatever. This does not feel safe. I wouldn't want to live here.
I wouldn't want to have to worry about Kim coming down to go shopping and there's unpredictable drug addicts everywhere. Look at this guy's smoking right here. Back to this group again.
This guy's lighting up or woman. Somebody's smoking something right there. I saw that guy actually at McDonald's.
He's flipping me off. Well, he has every right to do that, I guess. He was at McDonald's getting straws.
I saw him. I saw him coming out of McDonald's and he had a cup and some straws in his hands. Look at this.
I mean, [Music] God, it is just everywhere. I've seen some stuff in my day. All right.
I thought I was done. I thought that I was gonna wrap it up after I found that homeless camp, but there is just too much action. I can't stop.
There's another one in AutoZone there. Here's somebody on a public bench. And uh just one night in Espanola.
I've only been here for 8 hours now and I have seen a lot. I've seen enough to justify coming here. This is just how these people want to live their lives.
I can't imagine sleeping in the dirt, scrging for food, having to worry about protecting yourself and your belongings all the time. But this is the life they choose. They don't know anything else anymore.
It's the Wild West out here. Every man and woman for themselves. It's revival of the fittest.
Um, how long have you been out here um on the streets? I've been out here for uh I just got out of coma. I was I was in a coma for 2 and 1/2 months because because of fentanyl alcohol because I tried getting off the fentanyl and everything else and I used alcohol and my liver my kidneys give out.
But you know it's it's it's hard you know I I've had I know how to do everything. and they have I've had plenty of work, you know, but there's no work and they say they're they're hiring everywhere or this and that and you know, but that's [ __ ] bro. A lot of us would be a whole lot better off if these [ __ ] people would hire, but they're not doing nothing's going on in this town, bro.
It's it's it's got bad. But there's still quite a bit of pe, you know, like quite there's a lot of people, bro, that need help. A lot.
Is fenol like Did you try it once and then you were hooked? Is that how it happened? [Music] Fentanyl, it's killing us, bro.
Uh honestly all of us are that have done it actually uh are breaking out with like like little you know like like it seems like little [ __ ] like worms or some [ __ ] coming out of us or some [ __ ] It's it's it's it's a dangerous drug, bro. Some people can't handle it and they overdose immediately. It's the first time I ever overdosed in my whole life and I was an addict since I was 13.
Um, well, I'm pretty old already, bro. You know, I didn't overdose till recently for the first time in my life. How old are you?
Close 40. Last mean I lost I lost my whole life. A lot of us have I lost a lot of friends, a lot of you know family.
So if you had it your way like what how could you change your life and turn your life around by getting like rehab and getting a job would that be what you need? Honestly, I don't think a lot of us are going to make it too far anymore. I know I ain't, but I'm going to I'm going to speak my mind and I'm going to Yeah.
I'm going raise my voice, bro, and I'm going to Which is actually really cool that you just showed up right now, you know, cuz I'm, you know, a lot of us are not doing too well, you know, like physically, mentally, and all I know is Uh, I do want to make a change, you know. So, whatever time I do have left, I'm going to try and make the best of it and help, you know, even though I still, you know, drink whatever, whatnot, but if I can make a difference, I will. though.
You're You're trying to get You're trying to get work, but you can't get a job. I can't cuz you need a lot of clean up and you know. No, it's not even it's not really that.
It's like I I I mean like I could work. I just My health ain't doing like a lot of us are not doing no good. Like there's something wrong like there there's something in this in this [ __ ] drug too, bro.
You know, a lot of us ain't okay no more, bro. It [ __ ] with your memory. You [ __ ] forget, you know, bro.
I don't know. I honestly feel it's the government or something or some shit's going on, bro. But somebody needs to get the [ __ ] off their ass and help, bro.
And quick. It almost seems like they're they're like just trying to kill off our people, you know? Yeah, I'm not a racist person, dog.
I I love everyone equally. I pray for everybody every night, but we all [ __ ] need help, bro, right now. Honestly, truly say, let's go behind the building and see if there's anything back here.
If I look hard enough, I'll probably find some tin foil or a needle, some straws, no needles. What's up? I have a YouTube I'm sorry to bother you.
No, it's fine. I have a YouTube channel. I'm just doing a little story about Espanola and how the drug shit's bad here.
Oh, yeah. Can I interview you for a second? Yeah, sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Here, tell me.
Tell me what's up with Espanola. Why is the drug so bad here? Why is it so bad here?
Yeah. Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I mean, it's always been bad here, you know.
Um, from before I knew the like the heroin was was bad here, but then then they started with the blues and then now it's of course the the fentanyl, you know. Have you been affected by anybody that's been that's overdosed or gotten I mean, of course. I mean, there's a lot of people that are, you know, friends and stuff, family.
It's It's everywhere here and it's honestly uh it's pretty easy to to acquire if if you're looking for it. So, but yeah, this place is uh it's pretty bad with drugs. Yeah.
Yeah. How did you hear about it? Um, yeah, because we're we're doing a road trip, uh, my wife and I, um, and we've been in New Mexico for like a month, and we heard Espanola was like the drug capital of the country.
Yeah. See, yeah, it used to be the Take that microphone. Just hold it up.
It used to be the the heroin capital of of the world at one point, but now I I don't know what it is now, but I mean, like per capita, you know, I guess that's what it was. But yeah, but now but now I guess the fentanyl is taking over and there's quite a bit of uh people using a lot of younger people that I see, you know, using it now. Kid like teenagers.
Um mostly like uh like uh 16 and up, you know, like fentanyl. Yeah, like injecting it, smoking it, both. Um smoking it.
I don't think they even use uh injected anymore, you know? I mean, not like the not like the with like the heroin, you know? Yeah.
Cuz it's so I mean, a lot of people don't like needles, so it's easier to just smoke it than than to inject it, you know? And then right behind you, there's like a drug um rehab place that's like closed down. Like I've seen several of those closed down.
Why are they I mean if there's problem like do you know why? I don't I mean I know there's uh like methadone programs and stuff here. There's at least two here in the city.
Um but they are pretty full. It's kind of hard to get into uh into them, you know. Mhm.
You have to wait like uh I think there's like a waiting list like at least a month or so and then a month to get in to help. Yeah. And even then, um, you have to be there like at 12:00 in the morning waiting until they open till 6:00, you know, and then from there there's a line and then they only take so much people.
So even if you if you are waiting there, it's there's not a chance that that you're going to get in, you know. So they need more resources to help the people. Yeah, that would probably that would probably help, you know.
Yeah. But I mean, people don't won't change unless they want to. You know what I mean?
And you've been affected. You've had friends and family that have gotten hooked on drugs here in town. Yeah.
And are they better or are they still on drugs? No, they're still they're still lives changed. Yeah.
You know, lost their houses. You see a lot of homeless people. you know, some I know a few friends that are on the streets homeless because of that, you know, and um yeah, they just it it's gotten worse because of the fan, but I mean, as far as uh like my friends and stuff, I mean, they're they're just uh they're just in a in like a loop, you know, day in day out hustling.
um just staying in the same spot, you know, and that's pretty much life here in Espano as a you know, like as a drug addict. Yeah. Okay.
We're here at what used to be kind of like their downtown. They had a bunch of stuff going on here at some point, but I don't think any of this stuff's open anymore. There's like a little church and then whatever this was the plaza day espanola old church.
It's not open anymore. There's like nothing left here. It's all gone.
This is the Economic Development Partnership Office that's not open anymore. The EDA, that's one thing New Mexico has to figure out is how to bring in more money and jobs. There's a lot of rundown over here.
Run down with a million dollar view. Run down with a million-dollar view. Look at that view.
Snowcapped mountains and trailer parks and abandoned and trash everywhere and just not a lot going on. There's abandoned stuff all over. What's up, dude?
There's a lot of poverty here and there's a lot of rundown. I've seen my share of it in New Mexico. So, it's been a a month, actually more than a month since we've been in this state.
Here's another mural. Espanola says they take pride in their murals, and there are a lot of murals, I have to say. The workforce connection place is either closed or nobody cares cuz there's no cars in the parking lot.
So, who do you blame for this? A poorlyrun war on drugs? pharmaceutical company greed, no plan at the border, immigration, no enforcement, overcrowded prisons, catch and release, no money, no plan, all of it probably.
But what's sad is this is actually kind of not even a big deal in this country anymore. What I saw in Espanola those two days would be like the worst thing ever in most countries in this world. It'd be like, "Oh my god, look at that.
" But not here. It's just normal. This is just a regular part of life in America these days.
And it's just getting worse. Hey, and I'm an ambic and I don't care who knows. I [ __ ] love drugs, bro.
We just have an issue. But we're [ __ ] human, dude. So, please don't be quick to judge us, please.
You know, life's we're all equal. We're all human. So, don't judge people, please.
Not everyone's the same. And not all of us are, you know, bad people. You know, I hate the way people treat some people, bro.
And especially the way people look at me and treat me. That's not cool, you know. I'm not a thief, bro.
I'm not, you know, but some people tend to come at me like that, dude. And it's it's not right, you know. It's not me, bro.
I go work my [ __ ] ass off all day, bro. You know, a lot of people are legit, dude. you know, just just we have an issue, bro.
I know I do. I [ __ ] love drugs, bro. You know, I can't say I don't, but we're all human.
It's just that we have an issue. But may God bless everyone. I love everybody and God bless you guys.
Have a good day. Thanks, man. All right.
Good luck. Stay out. Peace.
All right. Take care, brother. All right, man.
Uhoh. I know. I know.
If anybody's hiring, if anybody wants to help this dude. There you go. All right.
Somebody needs to help that guy. There you go. Espanola, New Mexico.
Not a happy place. [ __ ] That just changed my perspective on everything, man. He's trying.
He thinks that uh the government and the corruption and people are not helping that they like they should. And he wants to help. He wants to change his life.
He admits that he's a drug user and he's just frustrated by everything and that's a and then right here we got a somebody died right there. Well, hey Nick Johnson fans. So YouTube's pushing this whole membership thing now and I think it's great.
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