RIO ARRIBA DRUG TRADE SLOWS

Residents say there are signs the drug trade in the Espanola Valley is
waning after a September raid that arrested more than 30 people in and
around this village of about 4,000. "We don't see the drug convoys going
through Chimayo anymore," said resident Sherwood Ensey, who lives with his
wife Virginia behind a 6-foot-high barbed wire fence patrolled by two
German shepherds. "It's gotten quieter. It's gotten more peaceful."

In the last five years, cocaine and heroin overdoses have claimed 90 lives
in this area, an average of 18 funerals a year. "They're still addicted,
and they're still using, and they're still stealing," said State Police
Capt. Quintin McShan of Espanola. But he said many symptoms of the epidemic
- -- including burglaries and overdoses -- are down.

Burglaries were already dropping, but breaking-and-entering reports dropped
75 percent for October and November compared to the same months last year.

Although Chimayo is beginning to see improvements, other communities, such
as Hernandez, where burglary rates are rising, are feeling the absence of
police.

"For every good I do in one place, I do harm to the other place. It's a
shell game, like robbing Paul to pay Peter," McShan said. "But when I lay
out the priorities, I gotta look at the dead bodies."

Fatal and nonfatal overdoses are down. Espanola Hospital reported 23
overdoses in August, 11 in September, 13 in October, and six from Nov 1.
through Nov. 22, the latest figures available.

Rio Arriba County has the highest drug-related death rate in the nation,
nearly three times the national average, according to the state Health
Department. The overdoses prompted the Chimayo Crime Prevention
Organization and others to lobby elected officials and police to take a
tougher stance against the drug trade.

"There was so much going on. It was everywhere. It was so much in your face
that that's all you saw," said Bruce Richardson, the organization's president.

"But we had given (officials) so much they could hardly ignore it," he
said. "Right now, it's wonderful. The change since the bust, you can feel
it in the air. It's like this black-tar cloud was lifted from the valley."

Chimayo native Steven Padilla, who heads a syringe-exchange program through
a $65,000 state Health Department contract, said drugs are still easy to
obtain.

"You figure you take away 31 people, you have another 30 ... to take over
the business," Padilla said. "That's the way it is. It's a family-owned
business. It's still out there; the only thing now is that it's hidden."

Padilla said doing away with the valley's drug problem will take time,
education, patience and money.

The Sept. 29 raid by local police agencies, the FBI and the Drug
Enforcement Administration was like the first bucket of water on a burning
house and long overdue, residents say.

"I guess there's always going to be crime in one way or the other. You just
need to kind of stay on top of it," said Rio Arriba County Undersheriff Joe
Mascarenas.

"I think we've had one or two (arrests of suspected drug traffickers) after
the raid, so that means there are other people doing it besides the ones we
got. It's still going on. It kind of slowed down, but I don't think they
quit. They learned to hide better."

Police have said members of at least five suspected trafficking
organizations were temporarily put out of business by the raid. Most remain
behind bars.

"It created a vacuum," McShan said. "When that happens, the people of the
community were able to say yes or no to allow another organization to form
roots there. It gave them a choice."