To: The New Hampshire State House, The New Hampshire State Senate, and Governor Chris Sununu
End the 5 month waiting period for chemical dependency treatment in New Hampshire.
Our New Hampshire state legislature and governor need to pass legislation that fully funds inpatient chemical dependency treatment by the end of this coming 2016 legislative session and ensures that New Hampshire addicts can access medically necessary inpatient chemical dependency treatment within 72 hours.
Why is this important?
According to New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan, "People are dying nearly every day in New Hampshire from the heroin and opioid epidemic, and we all need to work together on a comprehensive approach to strengthen our efforts to combat this crisis and save lives." Yet, there is currently a 5 month waiting period in the state of New Hampshire for anyone struggling with chemical dependency to access inpatient chemical dependency treatment and detox due to insufficient resources in our state. Many heroin addicts will not survive the 5 month wait to access inpatient treatment. Given the severity of a heroin addiction and the agonizingly painful process of detox, many heroin addicts cannot successfully complete the detox and treatment process through outpatient treatment alone. Multiple research studies demonstrate that investing in treatment programs for chemical dependency is a much more effective strategy to both keep communities safe and reduce the overall cost to taxpayers than incarcerating people for drug related crimes.