Legislation aims to address N.H. opioid crisis
New Hampshire is receiving a lot of attention for its “opioid crisis” – but it’s not just a campaign issue. The state has seen a huge increase in opioid overdose deaths in the past five years – the numbers have more than doubled since 2011.
There were 201 drug overdose deaths in 2011, according to statistics from the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. That dropped to 163 in 2012 and rose to 192 in 2013 before jumping to 326 in 2014 and to 420 in 2015, with at least 14 cases pending toxicology results.
This data is current as of February. Numbers can change daily as pending cases become finalized, according to the report.
Of the 420 drug deaths in the state for 2015, the number of deaths caused by opiates/opioids was 385.
When asked how New Hampshire compared to other states, Kim Fallon, chief forensic investigator for the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, pointed to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at opioid drug overdose deaths across the nation from 2000-2014.
“CDC analyzed recent multiple cause-of-death mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System to track current trends and shifting characteristics of drug overdose deaths,” according to the report. “Opioids – primarily prescription pain relievers and heroin – are the main driver of overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014 and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 2000.”
The study notes “significant increases in drug overdose death rates” in the Northeast, Midwest and South Census regions. “In 2014, the five states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio. States with statistically significant increases in the rate from 2013 to 2014 included Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia,” according to the report.
New Hampshire’s U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) has been pushing for legislation and emergency funding to help stem the rise in opioid addiction and overdose deaths.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), legislation co-sponsored by Shaheen that authorizes a series of new initiatives to help stem the tide of the heroin and opioid crisis passed the Senate in March, after an amendment providing $600 million in emergency funding to law enforcement and treatment providers failed to pass.
“As any police officer or treatment provider in New Hampshire can tell you, they desperately need resources today,” said Shaheen in an emailed statement. “Not a year from now. Not two years from now – but today.
“CARA is good legislation that will help fight the heroin pandemic in the long term. However, without real dollars behind this bill, it’s the equivalent of offering a life preserver with no air in it. The Senate must rise to meet this challenge as it has done in previous health emergencies.”
CARA authorizes prevention and education efforts to prevent abuse of opioids, the launch of evidence-based treatment and intervention programs and additional disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications and strengthens state prescription drug monitoring programs, according to the release.
It would also expand the availability of naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, to law enforcement agencies and other first responders.
New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) has a section of her Web site dedicated to the state’s substance abuse issue. She helped reintroduce CARA and supports or sponsored several other pieces of legislation on this issue.
“Reversing the tide of addiction will take a comprehensive, thoughtful approach and must include strategies for treatment, prevention, education, and support for individuals in recovery and increased interdiction,” she said in a GOP weekly address in early March.
Ayotte said CARA is a significant step forward and that she is working to ensure the bill becomes law. “As the appropriations process moves forward, I am continuing my efforts to ensure that those on the front lines of this crisis have the resources they need to help combat this epidemic,” she said in an email.