Staff Report
As New Hampshire is poised to receive $3.1 million in federal funding to combat the opioid crisis, local legislators said the state needs more help to tackle the drug epidemic.
“New Hampshire does not have the funds, New Hampshire does not have the resources and sadly I don’t think we have enough people,” said Rep. Ray Gagnon, D-Claremont, explaining the state’s health resources have declined over the past 30 years.
“(Opioids are) affecting everyone, we just don’t talk about it,” he said.
New Hampshire’s $3.1 million grant is part of $485 million worth of funds recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services through the 21st Century Cures Act.
The Cures Act became law in 2016 and authorized $6.3 billion in funding to accelerate medical product development and availability.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., said she welcomed New Hampshire’s money but called the grant “wholly inadequate” in a press release.
“Our recovery community needs funding,” she said, explaining she worked with senior appropriators to increase funds for the hardest hit areas in the 2018 budget. “The administration awarded less than 1 percent of the total funding to the state with the third-highest mortality rate, and it is nowhere near what our state needs to turn the tide in this deadly crisis.”
Congresswoman Ann Kuster, D-NH, who cofounded the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, also said the funding was “important” but, “not nearly enough to stem the tide of this crisis in our state.”
Those on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic need resources to expand prevention, treatment and long-term recovery efforts in New Hampshire,” Kuster said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said she’s working with officials to direct money to the areas of high overdose death rates.
“Unfortunately, considering the severity of the opioid crisis in New Hampshire, not enough of this initial funding is directed to our state,” said Shaheen.
Gagnon said when the opioid epidemic hit New Hampshire, the state wasn’t prepared and it’s still not. He said the use of the funds would be important.
“If the federal government is willing to give us ($3.1) million—great,” said Gagnon. “I hope we use it wisely.”
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