Curry seeks comment on underage drinking, drug abuse

CLOVIS — Curry County is seeking comment from the community to determine whether or not the area is prepared to tackle problems associated with underage drinking and prescription drug abuse.

Shannon Loughery, who works in the county's grants department as the office of substance abuse prevention community program manager, said the survey first went out a few weeks ago.

The goal is to assess the community's readiness, defined as:

• the capacity of a community to implement programs policies and other changes designed to reduce the likelihood of substance abuse.

Loughery said the survey is a followup to a 2015 New Mexico community survey that showed underage drinking and prescription opioid abuse to be two of the biggest issues facing the community.

"With (underage drinking and prescription opioid misuse) being the two big topics the community addressed as being a problem, we want to know where the readiness is," Loughery said.

Loughery said the department does have some funding from the state and will use the results of this new survey to determine how those funds should be put to use.

She said the survey has been shared with area law enforcement officials, the Curry County Health Council, the DWI Task Force and employees for Curry County and the city of Clovis, with the results starting to come in over the past few days.

"We're excited because this is the most we've heard back from the community in a few years," Loughery said.

She said other members of the community are welcome to share their thoughts via the survey, which can be accessed at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Readiness_Assess

Loughery said the results of the survey can be shared with the community if there is enough interest at the conclusion of the survey, which she said is expected to remain open for another few weeks or longer if responses continue to come in.