A man accused of causing a scene at a local convenience store was arrested April 6 on drug possession charges and outstanding warrants
The Police Department’s Special Enforcement Division continues to combat the opiate/opioid crisis plaguing the Queen City, with vigilance. Officers made two more arrests April 5, including confiscation of several grams of heroin and cocaine.
Up until the past year, I was always on the other side of addiction. I was the person who other people worried about, the one that no one probably expected would live a whole lot longer. I was OK with that. I envisioned that before too long I’d be gone and that, hopefully, my friends would show up to my funeral and say some kind things about me. I never thought that I’d be the one in recovery, mourning the loss of my friends.
As far as she knows, this is the first emergency rescue shelter of its kind in the country, taking in those who most typically have survived a heroin overdose and, once medically cleared in a hospital emergency department, can stay up to 14 days while actively seeking treatment and recovery solutions, says Kriss Blevens. “This is a porthole for the sickest of the sick, for those whose next stop is either another arrest, an overdose or the morgue,” says Blevens.
Usually, people seem to feel like they’re back at square one after a relapse, and in my opinion, some treatment programs reinforce that mindset. If you look at the whole picture there are two sides to this coin: If you’ve previously had years, months or even a few days of sobriety, that means you did find success for some period of time. Things were going right before they went wrong. Try and build on that success.
When I was in the midst of my opiate addiction, I used to envy people who didn’t need opiates to function. Sometimes, even a year later, I’m overcome with amazement and gratitude that I no longer require them in my body on a daily basis. I never really thought that I would be free of the grip of opiates. It was like being in jail on a life sentence. I felt that life would be my existence until it ended, the only question was when. Though, around New Year’s Eve or on my birthday every year, some part of me would think “maybe this will be the year I get off opiates.” But that thought was always short-lived and evaporated by the next day at the first signs of withdrawal, like, “who am I kidding?”
The task force will look at best practices for prevention and and public safety with potential outreach for 19,000 U.S. cities, towns and villages.
The hearing, entitled “Addressing VA Opioid Prescriptions and Pain Management Practices,” examined current pain management practices within the Veterans Administration and its connection to the ongoing opioid epidemic sweeping across New Hampshire and the rest of the country.
“When I hear ‘state of emergency,’ I think you’re maybe sending in the National Guard to set up some emergency field hospitals, and bringing in a couple of doctors and nurses to start pumping people through these field hospitals so they can at least detox, reducing the waiting lists and relieving already overtaxed staff,” said Holly Cekala, of HOPE for NH Recovery.
The Hope for New Hampshire Recovery board of directors unanimously supported affiliation with Face It TOGETHER in order to expand and strengthen their addiction support programs and services in the wake of the state’s growing opioid crisis.