New Mexico bill allows testing to prevent fentanyl deaths

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is allowing broad access to test strips that can detect the presence of the potent opiate fentanyl and potentially help avoid deadly overdoses, under legislation signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The bill from Democratic legislators in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos lifts restrictions on public access to devices that can test for drug impurities. Overdoses in New Mexico increasingly are linked to the ingestion of drugs laced with fentanyl. Separately, Lujan Grisham signed a legislation that provides new or expanded preferences on state contracts to bids by Native American-owned businesses based on tribal lands, resident-owned businesses and military veterans.