Senator Hassan, Congressman Pappas Celebrate the Raymond Coalition for Youth’s 9th Annual Prevention Summit
Senator Hassan and Representative Pappas with youth attendees at the Raymond Coalition’s 9th Annual Prevention Summit in Manchester.
MANCHESTER – Today, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan and Representative Chris Pappas joined the Raymond Coalition for Youth to celebrate their work in the community and share their perspective on stemming the opioid crisis at the 9th Annual Prevention Summit. In addition to leadership from the coalition, also in attendance were Jon DeLena, Special Agent in Charge New England Drug Enforcement Administration, Eddie Edwards of NH Department of Public Safety, and other local law enforcement leaders.
“Over the last twenty years, because of the work of the Raymond Coalition for Youth and its partners, we have seen incredible growth as people come together to focus on strengthening our children, and our youth, and our communities – and as a result, our economy, and our state, and our country,” said Senator Hassan. "I have been proud to partner with all of you to address the opioid epidemic, from working to stop fentanyl trafficking to supporting our health care workforce. Your advocacy has been critical in these efforts.”
“For far too many New Hampshire families, the nation’s drug crisis is deeply personal. The prevention work being done by the Raymond Coalition for Youth and their partners to reduce the risk of youth substance abuse is critical to addressing this crisis,” said Congressman Pappas. “I’ll continue working to support our communities as we confront the addiction crisis and will always fight to deliver resources that will support prevention efforts, help law enforcement address drug trafficking, and expand access to recovery.”
Senator Hassan is working to stem the substance use disorder crisis. 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. Last year following Senator Hassan’s advocacy, the Biden administration removed some requirements that limited health care providers’ ability to prescribe medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder. Senator Hassan is continuing to press for passage of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, a bipartisan bill that she reintroduced last year with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), that would fully eliminate these bureaucratic barriers. Congressman Pappas is also a cosponsor to the House of Representatives’ version of the bill. Senator Hassan also 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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