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.
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.
“What changed was we changed our attitude in America and our practices in the late 1990s in how we deal with pain. Why aren’t we talking about that? I have a lot of hope about where we’re headed, but I’m discouraged that we have more people signing up for opiate addiction treatment in Vermont than two years ago, when we started,” said Gov. Peter Shumlin, during Wednesday’s Senate hearing.