Senate Democrats support funding for substance abuse and addiction prevention, recovery, and educati

New Hampshire struggles with addiction and substance abuse.The opioid epidemic is tearing through our communities, and destroying the lives of families across our state. The Granite State has the 3rd highest rate of opioid related overdose deaths per capita, New Hampshire needs an addiction and substance abuse intervention to protect the lives and families that are being destroyed by opioid addiction.

A large chunk of the Granite State’s funding comes through sales by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. When we are funding our state on the back of alcohol consumption we also must make sure that consumption is not detrimental to the residents of our state. New Hampshire has the highest alcohol consumption per capita of any state in the nation, but we are failing to fund alcohol and drug abuse prevention, education, and treatments to keep New Hampshire safe and healthy.

In recent years the Republican majority has let our substance abuse prevention funding drop to shameful levels as the opioid crisis hit its peak. Recovery from opioid addiction requires recovery services, and if New Hampshire is going to recover from the opioid epidemic we must invest meaningfully in recovery programs.

Senate Democrats proposed CACR 21 to guarantee that substance abuse funding in New Hampshire and tying it to the success of an industry that enables it. For New Hampshire to be serious about truly addressing its addiction epidemic, and stem the tide of overdose deaths, the Senate must act to guarantee funding is available to fund prevention, education and recovery programs.