Governor Hassan Signs Bipartisan Bill Providing $5 Million for Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Programs and Supportive Housing

Press Release

Continuing her efforts to implement the comprehensive strategy to combat the heroin and opioid crisis and help save lives, Governor Maggie Hassan today signed a bipartisan bill providing an additional $5 million for prevention, treatment and recovery programs and supportive housing, as well as a bipartisan measure funding technology upgrades to the New Hampshire Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). The Governor signed Senate Bill 533 and Senate Bill 522 at the Governor's Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery meeting in Manchester.

The additional $5 million dollars in Senate Bill 533 will help prevention, treatment and recovery providers assist thousands of Granite Staters across the state and increase access to supportive housing for those battling addiction. Senate Bill 522 provides $130,000 for technology upgrades to the PDMP that will help more prescribers use it in a timely fashion, and it maintains the State's drug forfeiture fund to support the Attorney General's Drug Task Force and the efforts of local law enforcement.

"As the heroin and opioid crisis devastates families, businesses and communities across the state, it is critical that we provide additional resources to those combating this horrible epidemic on the front lines," Governor Hassan said. "By providing an additional $5 million for prevention, treatment and recovery programs and supportive housing, Senate Bill 533 will help providers across the state assist thousands of Granite Staters, while the technology upgrades made possible by Senate Bill 522 will help more prescribers access our prescription drug monitoring program in a timely fashion as part of our efforts to prevent doctor shopping and the overprescribing of addictive prescription opioids."

"These bipartisan bills provide significant additional resources, which are critical to our comprehensive approach to support law enforcement and strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery programs across the state. While I am proud to sign these bills into law today as another important bipartisan step forward, we must remain constant and focused in our efforts and continue working together every day to stem and reverse the tide of this terrible epidemic," Governor Hassan said.

To help combat the heroin and opioid epidemic in New Hampshire, Governor Hassan put forward a comprehensive proposal last fall to support law enforcement and strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery across the state. Governor Hassan has now signed numerous components of that comprehensive legislation, including bipartisan legislation cracking down on fentanyl, limiting prior authorization requirements for treatment, making improvements to New Hampshire's prescription drug monitoring program, requiring all prescribing boards to update prescribing rules for opioids, establishing a statewide drug court program and providing an additional $5 million for prevention, treatment and recovery programs and supportive housing.

In addition, the Governor fought to reauthorize the bipartisan New Hampshire Health Protection Program, which has provided substance misuse and behavioral health services to thousands of Granite Staters, and she worked to revise licensing requirements to make it easier for providers to open treatment facilities, to increase the safe and effective use of Narcan, and to launch a statewide substance misuse hotline to help connect individuals with resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She has also signed bipartisan bills allowing drug take-back programs at pharmacies, simplifying the licensing process for alcohol and drug abuse counselors who move to New Hampshire and requiring public schools to include drug and alcohol education as part of their health education curriculum.

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