Community Forum on Heroin Scourge in Nashua Region

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The Nashua group Beyond Influence will hold a community forum on the scourge of heroin.

The forum will be held May 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Alvirne High School.

State officials said there were 321 heroin overdoses in New Hampshire in 2014—nearly a 70 percent increase from the year before.

These are recent crime stories involving alleged heroin use in the Nashua region:

• Marshals: Fugitive Sold Heroin in a School Zone
• Alleged Heroin Dealer Arrested by Nashua Police
• Alleged Crack Cocaine, Heroin Dealers Arrested
• Alleged Nashua Drug Dealer Indicted
• 7 Arrested in Drug Bust Involving Heroin, Oxycodone
• 2 Charged with Selling Heroin, Cocaine

Here’s more information on the forum:

On May 6, from 6 to 8pm, a community forum to discuss the issue of heroin addiction in our community will be held at Alvirne High School (200 Derry Road in Hudson in the Music Room). This community forum is hosted by the Town of Hudson in collaboration with the Substance Misuse Prevention Coalition for the Greater Nashua Public Health Region, also known as Beyond Influence.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, drug overdoses have increased in the past ten years from about 40 in 2005, 193 in 2013 and 321 in 2014. This forum will highlight the impact heroin use has had on the Town of Hudson.

Tym Rourke, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery will be the event’s keynote speaker. Following Mr. Rourke, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion. The panel will have representation from community members, the Hudson Police and Fire Departments and treatment professionals from Keystone Hall, Gate House Sober Community, Merrimack River Medical Services, and F.A.S.T.E.R. Support Group. The panel discussion will give community members the opportunity to join the conversation about heroin and other drugs, learn what resources are available, and better understand how to support community members in prevention, treatment and recovery.

Registration is not required but encouraged. To register for this event go to: http://tinyurl.com/olj3e5o

For more information about the forum or substance misuse prevention efforts in the Greater Nashua Region, please contact Lisa Vasquez, Beyond Influence; Substance Misuse Prevention Coordinator, at 589-4538.