Bourdon: It's Time to Approve 'Operation Granite Hammer' Grants

By Joshua Bourdon

DERRY, NH - The substance misuse and overdose crisis in New Hampshire has reached the point where more people are dying from overdoses than from motor vehicle accidents. 

This sad reality constitutes a serious public health and safety issue. The impact on society in general and on families, law enforcement, first responders, employers, and the taxpayers is staggering. Substance misuse is breaking up marriages and relationships and destabilizing families.  Additionally, it is increasing the costs of medical care for both insured and uninsured, spiking the number of emergency service calls,causing accidents at work and away from work, overburdening treatment centers, overtaking the criminal justice system from courts to jails, and costing millions in taxpayer dollars including $600 million in new federal funding and $10 million in new state funding!

Government has, thankfully, responded with new programs. The federal Center for Disease Control recently cracked down on loose prescriptions practices and recommended alternative pain management approaches. New Hampshire followed suit this year with legislation (House Bill 1423) that requires health care professional licensing boards to adopt new rules for the issuance of prescriptions and to record those prescriptions into a dedicated database to control access to narcotics by “doctor shoppers” or “pharmacy shoppers.”   

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• Five Busted in NH ‘Granite Hammer’ Drug Sweep
• $35K Worth of Fentanyl, Heroin, Cocaine, Crack Seized in Raid
• Alleged Drug Dealer Bagged with 300 Grams of Heroin
• Two NH Men Arrested in Mass. for Meth
• Fourth Wave of ‘Granite Hammer’ Arrests Made in NH
• ‘Granite Hammer’ Drug Enforcement Op Bags 7
• 16 Arrested, Heroin, Crack, and Cash Seized
• Numerous Arrests Made in Major Drug Sweep
• Cops Net Nine During Crack Cocaine, Heroin Raids

In March of this year, the Executive Council voted to accept the receipt of a donation of 171 naloxone or Narcan kits for use in each one of our high schools, and some school districts like Manchester and Nashua have decided to accept their kits. The New Hampshire School Nurses Association has endorsed this program and school nurses, as well as first responders, are trained to administer this overdose-reversing drug and are legally permitted to do so thanks to recent legislative action and the Governor’s signature.

Medical insurance coverage remains to be an issue for those seeking treatment who are not covered by a private plan or by a public insurance plan like Medicare, Medicaid, or the Veterans Administration hospital network. I was pleased to see the Legislature pass a two-year extension of the Expanded Medicaid program this spring that will allow low-income persons with addictive behaviors access to treatment if they want it. There is another $1.5 million in the balance to combat this epidemic on another front as I write this article. 

On Thursday, June 16, the NH Legislature is scheduled to act on its last piece of legislation for this session and that is Senate Bill 485, sponsored by state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth. That legislation would create a grant program to assist state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to beef up their units and resources to go after the drug dealers who push this poison on our society for their own financial gain without the slightest regard for all of its damaging societal effects. Operation Granite Hammer in Manchester is an example of this effort to intercept drugs before their sale and distribution. 

I endorse this legislation and urge all Senators and Representatives in Rockingham County to support it when it comes before them next Thursday.

If I am elected to the Executive Council from Rockingham County, I will encourage even greater cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of state government to combat this epidemic, educate our children on the dangers of experimentation with substance misuse, stabilize households and workplaces, support law enforcement and clinicians alike, and make our communities safer and healthier. 

I have a proven record of leadership and public service as an elected member of the Derry, NH Town Council, and I am the founder of Spinathon for Hunger.  Furthermore, I am a co-founder of the Run 4 Recovery to combat substance misuse; the co-founder, with my wife Leah, of Keep Our Veterans Warm; a member of the 40 Under 40 professional watch list; the recipient of the Edward M Kennedy, Legislator of the Year Award for my achievements as a town councilor; and I am an active member in various social organizations. My great-grandfather, Eli Bourdon, ran for governor in the 1930s and my great-uncle, Earl Bourdon, of Claremont served in the NH Legislature. Public service is a family tradition, and I am pleased to carry the torch! 

I currently serve as a Town Councilor in Derry and I am a candidate for Executive Councilor from District 3, which includes the southeastern two-thirds of Rockingham County, and I live in Derry with my wife, Leah, and our two small children, Sasha and Miles. Visit bourdonfornh.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

Joshua Bourdon is a candidate for the Executive Council seat in District 3.