New Mexico Leads the U.S. in Alcohol Attributable Deaths

16.4% of all deaths in New Mexico are caused by excessive drinking.1

About 1 in 6 deaths among working age people in New Mexico can be attributed to alcohol.

Causes of death include:

  • Violence
  • Alcohol Poisoning
  • Motor Vehicle Crashes
  • Liver Failure
  • Breast Cancer
  • Other Fatal Illnesses2

The Solution:

Increase the alcohol excise tax 25¢ per drink
Let excessive drinking pay for excessive drinking harms

  • Save 52 lives a year initially, with the number of lives saved growing larger each year as more and more alcohol-related chronic diseases are prevented
  • Prevent 306 violent acts a year
  • Prevent 12,375 cases of alcohol dependence or abuse a year, relieving thousands of families of the heartache, financial strain, and emotional turmoil that alcohol abuse and dependence creates
  • Reduce overall underage drinking by 13%. That’s 7,150 fewer youth drinking each year, resulting in thousands of New Mexico children avoiding alcohol related problems later in life
  • Decrease binge drinking among youth by 4,680 cases and save New Mexicans $20,618,000 a year in costs of underage binge drinking
  • Use tax revenues to fund the Medicaid Expansion Match that the state is responsible for in 2017, insuring continued health care coverage to over 200,000 New Mexicans
1Excessive Drinking includes: 1) binge drinking—5 or more in a sitting by men, 4 or more by women, 2) heavy drinking—15 or more drinks per week by men, 8 or more for women, 3) drinking by pregnant women, 4) drinking by people under age 21.
2Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

Download PDF