Senator Kelly Ayotte discusses the heroin epidemic in New Hampshire. View other videos from this forum, held January 5, 2016 in Hooksett (Manchester), New Hampshire at Southern New Hampshire University. Senator Ayotte https://goo.gl/3iQqnO Governor Jeb Bush https://goo.gl/J14b0b Governor Chris Christie https://goo.gl/nNBUJh Carly Fiorina https://goo.gl/5JF3yo David Gastfriend https://goo.gl/VRpqqB Jim Gilmore https://goo.gl/SB4Ye7 Governor Maggie Hassan https://goo.gl/ImRtgQ John Kasich https://goo.gl/RSKQYx Jeanne Shaheen https://goo.gl/qMP4A2 Panel Discussion with Carly Fiorina https://goo.gl/krTFrc View our Channel https://goo.gl/nv3CtL Visit our Website http://www.addictionpolicy.org/ I thought about the year that we've had in the state of New Hampshire. When it comes to the public health crisis we have been facing with opioid addiction, struggling with heroin, deadly drug fentanyl, overuse and misuse of prescription drugs, and of course, all the substances that people struggle with every single day in the state. And so, it's two different tales, really. as I think about 2015. 2015, we look back at 2014, we have 320 drug overdose deaths in this state, and that was staggering because that was a 60% increase from the year before. 2015 mid-December, our chief medical examiner reports 340 overdose deaths, so 60% increase, even higher. And unfortunately, the chief medical examiner, that was mid-December, he estimated that we were gonna exceed 400 this year in the state of New Hampshire. As of mid-December, 151 of those actually, he specifically attributed to also the deadly interaction of fentanyl, which is a real killer that I know, well, the state legislature is focusing on, and I'm certainly focusing on at the federal level. Over the last year, I had the opportunity to do a ride-along both with the Manchester Fire Department, the Manchester Police Department, and the stories were the same. Our first responders, everyday, are struggling. They're saving lives, they're administering Narcan, and you don't have to be with them long to unfortunately experience going to an overdose. And to see individuals on the floor who are really in the last gasps of life, and to see them bring them back and to understand that this happens in every single household, and having had that experience over the last year, I'm grateful, I wanna thank all the first responders in the room because they're doing a phenomenal job, and I'll tell you this. It's very very tough. All of you who are out there working, you need our support because seeing that day-in, day-out it wears on you, and so, this is the cycle that we have to end in 2016. But I also wanted to share with you what my experience has been, in 2015 and before that, with this crisis that we're facing. And this experience is a very different experience from the one I just talked about where people are dying and that is in this room, the courage I have seen, the resilience I have seen, the determination, the people who are in recovery who have had the courage to come forward and say, guess what, I'm in recovery too. I struggle with I have turned my life around. I've turned my life around, and I've not only turned it around, but I'm gonna make a difference and I'm gonna pay it forward, and so, when I see that, I know that we can turn the story around. Not only the decades that Jessica talked about, but turn around 2015 and this new year. We look at our resolution, this is the perfect timing for an addiction policy forum, to have a different 2016. I just wanna say a couple of examples. I'm looking right in this front row. I'm looking at Doug and Pam Griffin, who tragically lost their daughter, their beautiful, incredible daughter, Courtney, 20 years old and their experience, they are taking that and they are working, working so hard to establish the Courtney Griffin Sober House. So that's an example of inspiration for all of us. Other inspiration, you know, other risk-users that I work on are veterans, and so many are veterans struggle with substance use disorders so much, and I've had the chance to meet my friend Keith Howard, who is at the Liberty House here in Manchester, and I remember standing in a presentation on Memorial Day where he talked about his addiction to heroin, how he was homeless on the streets, and how he turned it around and how his struggle with addiction, turned that around and opened the Liberty House to help homeless veterans. So I think about inspiring stories like that, and as I've met so many of you in this room, you are doing this as well.

• published: 07 Feb 2016
• views: 41