Theodore Alcorn will be writing about the outsize impact alcohol use has on public health in New Mexico, where it kills twice as many New Mexicans as other substances such as opiates, and with Hispanic and indigenous communities bearing the brunt. For a comparative element, he points to examples in California and Maryland of public policies aimed at prevention or treatment that would be suitable as possible models for what New Mexico should be doing. Alcorn notes that alcoholism rates are increasing across the country, and he plans five stand-alone articles to cover the topic: 1) quantifying and humanizing the problem; 2) geographical and racial disparities; 3) the local history and politics of the issue; 4) investigating alcohol treatments; and 5) focusing on opportunities to prevent alcoholism, including looking at behavioral and policy successes in other states that have had an impact. Alcorn would like to translate his articles into Dine so that it is accessible to the Navajo population.
Theodore Alcorn
2022 AHCJ Reporting Fellow on Health Care Performance, Independent Journalist
