City Councilor Nichole L. Rogers Demands Accountability in Federal Fentanyl Revelations; Challenges Lagging Rollout of Opioid Settlement Funds

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Albuquerque City Councilor Nichole L. Rogers, District 6, issued a stark call for transparency and immediate administrative action following damning investigative reports detailing federal law enforcement's handling of local fentanyl trafficking, combined with what she describes as a sluggish implementation of the local recovery resources.

The demand follows recent investigative reporting by the Associated Press and the Albuquerque Journal revealing that between 2023 and 2025, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) routinely monitored but chose not to seize hundreds of thousands of illicit fentanyl pills flooding New Mexico communities—including an observed delivery of 74,000 pills at an Albuquerque mobile home park—in an effort to build larger conspiracy cases. In response to these revelations, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham formally requested that New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez investigate whether federal operatives violated state law.

Councilor Rogers is pushing for clarity on how local leadership interacted with this high-stakes federal strategy while families in the Albuquerque Metro Area, especially in District 6, continue to bear the devastating brunt of the synthetic opioid crisis.

Simultaneously, Councilor Rogers is challenging all levels of government over the pace of local relief delivery. On October 6, 2025, the Albuquerque City Council unanimously enacted R-25-180, co-sponsored by Councilor Rogers—which appropriated $2,916,162.94 in opioid settlement funds to serve individuals experiencing Substance Use Disorder.

The funding was explicitly earmarked to expand the Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) Department’s Street Outreach Navigation Program, targeting mobile crisis response, eviction prevention, and recovery housing stability for the unhoused population. Total opioid settlement fund revenue: (as of 5/20/26): $38,802,127.00.

Total amount the City has appropriated through legislation (including the latest $100,000 in R-26-17 for the Women in Leadership Resilient Futures: Opioid Re-Entry Preparation and Housing Program): $32,698,798.00.

Total amount from the appropriations that the City has spent (as of 6/25/26): $12,087,926.00.

This information is publicly available on the Data and Accountability Dashboard.

Despite the urgency of an epidemic that sees unhoused individuals dying from overdoses at ten times the rate of the public, execution of these funds has lagged.

"We fought hard alongside our community partners to secure and allocate millions to deploy proven, life-saving street outreach and recovery housing," said Councilor Nichole L. Rogers. " To discover that while we were scrambling for local resources, federal authorities were actively placing massive shipments of fentanyl in our neighborhoods without taking them off the street is completely unacceptable. New Mexicans are not the acceptable collateral damage of federal case-building."

As part of the City Council’s oversight responsibility, Councilor Rogers is calling for:

• A public update on the implementation timeline for R-25-180 and all other opioid settlement investments at the City, County and State.
• Transparency regarding coordination between local and federal agencies responding to fentanyl trafficking.
• A statewide strategy to ensure 988 crisis services remain fully funded and accessible.
• Stronger collaboration among federal, state, county, and city partners to address addiction, reduce overdose deaths, and support long-term recovery.

The opioid crisis requires urgency, transparency, and collaboration,” Rogers said. “Whether it’s federal law enforcement, state government, or local government, every level has a responsibility to do its part. Our community isn’t interested in finger-pointing—they expect us to work together, use every available resource wisely, and deliver results that save lives.”