Governor Hassan's Statement on Joint Legislative Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Epidemic Recommendations

Statement

Governor Maggie Hassan issued the following statement today on the recommendations by the Joint Legislative Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Epidemic:

"With New Hampshire losing one of our friends, family members or neighbors nearly every day to the heroin and opioid epidemic, the need for ongoing action to strengthen our efforts to combat this crisis and save lives is urgent. There was broad, bipartisan support for many of the items in my comprehensive legislative proposal, and I applaud members from both parties on the task force for their hard work over the last month to consider these and other items.

"While the recommendation to expedite many of the items from my proposal is an important step forward in our efforts to give patients, providers, parents and law enforcement better tools in the fight against substance abuse, we know there is still more work to do in order to support law enforcement, improve prevention, treatment, and recovery, and strengthen our efforts to help save lives and combat this crisis, a crisis that is devastating families and communities across the state. We must all continue working together to pass these bills as quickly as possible and take additional steps -- including reauthorizing our bipartisan health care expansion program, the single most effective step we can take to increase treatment capacity -- in order to continue building on our comprehensive approach to the most pressing public health and safety challenge facing our state."

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