Ahead of Congressional Delegation Trip to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, Senator Hassan Meets with NH Law Enforcement Officials to Discuss Drug Trafficking

MANCHESTER – Senator Maggie Hassan met with state, local and federal law enforcement leaders to learn more about the ways in which drug trafficking is impacting New Hampshire as well as the strategies necessary to combat the unlawful sale and distribution of deadly drugs both at home and internationally. The discussion comes ahead of a Congressional Delegation trip to Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico that the Senator will be participating in later this month.

“New Hampshire continues to be devastated by the trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamines, as overdose deaths, especially from fentanyl, continue to take their toll. It was helpful to hear directly from law enforcement officials who are on the front lines of the substance misuse crisis in New Hampshire, and discuss how we can strengthen our local and international partnerships to prevent drug trafficking. I am grateful to the members of law enforcement for their work in this area and will bring their priorities to the meetings that I have during my upcoming Congressional Delegation trip to Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico as we continue to work together to tackle this issue head on,” said Senator Hassan.

“New Hampshire law enforcement continues to face significant challenges due to the substance misuse epidemic, which is in part due to fentanyl trafficking across the border. Senator Hassan has always supported law enforcement, and it was great to speak with her today about the specific challenges we are facing in combatting the substance misuse crisis. I look forward to hearing about her Congressional Delegation trip to Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and her takeaways on how we can prevent illegal drug trafficking,” said Colonel Nathan Noyes of the New Hampshire State Police.

Senator Hassan continues to lead efforts to stop illegal drug trafficking and combat substance misuse. Since 2017, Senator Hassan has successfully worked to secure a nine-fold increase in funding to New Hampshire to address the substance use disorder epidemic. The year-end government funding package that President Biden recently signed into law includes Senator Hassan’s bipartisan Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which eliminates an outdated requirement, the ‘x-waiver,’ that limits the number of medical practitioners who can prescribe life-saving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. In addition, the year-end funding bill included a measure backed by Senator Hassan to extend fentanyl analogue scheduling, in order to keep criminals from using loopholes to traffic deadly opioids. Senator Hassan also previously worked with her colleagues to pass into law the bipartisan INTERDICT Act, which has provided critical tools to Customs and Border Protection to help detect and intercept fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids. 

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