A sea of raised hands. That was Congresswoman Annie Kuster’s “a-ha” moment.
“They asked how many people had a loved one who was affected by heroin, and literally every single hand in the room went up,” said Kuster, describing a rally she attended shortly after the death of Keene High School teacher Shannon Lacy, who died of an overdose of the opiate fentanyl in 2014. “That really made me realize what we’re dealing with.”
Kuster attended a round table event with representatives of the Monadnock Community Hospital Be the Change – Behavioral Health Task Force on Wednesday to discuss ongoing efforts locally and federally to battle substance misuse in New Hampshire and across the country. Kuster spent a brief amount of time outlining new legislation enacted by the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or CARA, but the bulk of the time was spent listening to those who have been trying to get their head around the local issues for the past two years.
Kuster has done a number of similar round tables with communities, she said, and often, it is a conversation starter. But for the Eastern Monadnock region, which has been actively organizing on the topic of substance misuse and behavioral health issues for the past two years, it was an example she wanted to carry to other communities.
“This community is ahead of the curve,” said Kuster. “You have some great initiatives going.”
Some of those initiatives are already in place – Kuster praised the ongoing effort to extend training of the overdose reversal drug Narcan, and the increase in education and monitoring of opiate prescriptions at Monadock Community Hospital, task forces at the local high schools, and a support resource guide compiled by Be the Change and regularly published by the Ledger-Transcript.
Others are still in the works – such as a new prescription drug take-back box to be installed at the Peterborough Police Station, and the potential of a new recovery center for the region.
As important as the resources they provide, said Kuster, is the conversation they can start. And as the conversation flows, it slowly begins to chip away at the social stigma that surrounds drug addiction, treatment, and mental health issues.
Kuster opened up about her own experience – her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease – being thrust into the public eye. And while it can feel overwhelming to have such a personal thing aired in public, it also takes it out of the shadows and makes people realize they’re not alone. And those personal accounts are needed to bring understanding to the issue and cultivate lasting and effective treatment and legislation to support it.
Part of that, she said, is making clear the connection between addiction and another often taboo subject – mental health. The mental health component is a glaring omission from CARA, Kuster admitted, and the issue is muddied by the fact that committees working on legistlation to aid addiction and those working on issues to do with mental health are divorced from each other. It will be a long-term goal to make that clear on the legislative floor, which Kuster said she believes will come with education on the issue.
Kuster said there are already plans to bring the next round of comprehensive bills to the legislative floor in fall, including a proposal for $600 million in additional emergency funding to help assist with long-term recovery, treatment for rural communities and law enforcement resources.