All Granite Staters know painfully well that the heroin and opioid crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge facing our state, devastating families, businesses and communities across New Hampshire. Everywhere I go, I hear from people who have been affected by substance abuse. It touches people from all walks of life. And it accounts for billions of dollars in negative impacts on our economy.
We know that it requires that we all continue to work together, at all levels, to stem and reverse the tide of this crisis, and I have been focused on working with those on the front lines to ensure that they have the tools and resources they need.
Working together, we’re making bipartisan progress to strengthen our prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, and to support our law enforcement officials. But we know that we have far more work to do.
Last November, I proposed a comprehensive legislative strategy to address this crisis. And thanks to our work across party lines, much of that strategy is becoming law. I have signed a number of bipartisan bills over the past months to strengthen our comprehensive approach to fight substance misuse and help save lives. We are cracking down on fentanyl, streamlining access to treatment by limiting requirements for prior authorizations and improving our prescription drug monitoring program. We are also updating the rules on opioid prescribing, educating our young people about the dangers of substance misuse and providing additional resources to help those battling this crisis on the front lines save lives.
I recently signed bipartisan legislation establishing a statewide drug court program to build on the success of existing drug courts, which have proven successful in reducing crime and helping people return to their communities as contributing members of society through community supervision and intensive treatment. But drug courts only work if they are backed by access to treatment and recovery services, which is why it was so critical that we passed a bill providing an additional five million dollars for prevention, treatment and recovery programs, as well as supportive housing. This supplements the nearly $15 million we have already put into the community in the last six months through grants and contracts for law enforcement and for treatment, prevention and recovery services.
Increasing treatment capacity is also one of the reasons that it was so important that we reauthorized our bipartisan New Hampshire Health Protection Program, because it provides coverage for substance abuse and behavioral health services. Thanks to this critical coverage, thousands of Granite Staters have already accessed these services, and experts have made clear that it is essential to increasing treatment capacity in New Hampshire.
As vice chairwoman of the National Governors Association’s Health and Human Services Committee, I am working with my fellow governors from both parties to push for additional federal action to support states as we battle this epidemic. In addition, the New England Governors continue our important regional collaboration to address the heroin and opioid crisis, including calls for the federal government to expand access to medication assisted treatment.
While we continue our efforts to strengthen our prevention, treatment and recovery efforts in the fight against substance misuse, we must also support public safety officials working on the front lines to address the supply side of this horrible epidemic.
Thanks to our dedicated law enforcement officers – and their collaboration with our federal partners at the DEA – we have seen significant success in arresting drug dealers and seizing illegal drugs. Working together, we have been able to maintain New Hampshire’s drug forfeiture fund and, through a grant we announced last October, State Police have been assisting local law enforcement in Manchester with Operation Granite Hammer.
But Manchester is not alone in this crisis, which is why I also proposed last fall expanding Operation Granite Hammer to provide additional support for law enforcement in communities across the state. I was pleased to sign the expanded statewide Operation Granite Hammer program into law last week after a strong bipartisan vote, and we will work with local police departments across the state to provide this critical support.
Addressing the scourge of addiction is critical for the future of our people, our businesses and our economy, and it requires our constant vigilance. We have made significant bipartisan progress in Concord this year, but the fight is not over, and we must continue working together to combat this crisis and save lives.