Senator Hassan Pushes to Address Fentanyl Overdoses & Substance Misuse During Senate Hearing

WASHINGTON – Today during a Senate hearing, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan spoke about current challenges in addressing the substance misuse crisis as well as solutions that she’s working on.

To watch Senator Hassan’s questioning, click here.

Senator Hassan began by discussing how more young people are dying from fentanyl overdoses.

“Deaths from fentanyl among teenagers more than tripled between 2019 and 2021,” said Senator Hassan. “Many of these teens were not seeking fentanyl. They purchased what they thought was Percocet, Oxycodone, or Adderall, only to take a fatal dose of fentanyl. And the stories are truly heartbreaking.”

Senator Hassan then asked Kemp Chester, Senior Policy Advisor for Supply Reduction and International Relations at the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, about how young people are getting exposed to these fentanyl-laced drugs. 

“Unfortunately, [young people are] being exposed to these drugs in a greater variety of means than they ever were before, and in many cases… getting access to these drugs is as simple as in the palm of your hand through a social media app,” said Chester. “And so when we’re dealing with global drug traffickers who want to reduce their risk and reduce their overheard and increase their customer base and increase their profits, it is in their interest to make it available through a variety of means.”

Senator Hassan joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in introducing legislation to deter counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine earlier this year.

“The second thing is how those drugs move across our borders and into the United States, and in some cases it's a southwest border, but in some cases it's through our mail and express consignment. And the work we've done with the Postal Inspection Service where the number of seizures in the mail has increased I think has been admirable in being able to disrupt that vector coming into the country,” Chester added.

In March, the Senator chaired a field hearing in Manchester to discuss ways to crack down on international drug trafficking and provide more resources to law enforcement to help stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and our communities.

Senator Hassan then highlighted the importance of expanding the behavioral health workforce in order to support those struggling with mental health challenges and/or substance use disorder.

“According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the country must add more than 100,000 general psychiatrists and 43,000 addiction psychiatrists to meet the current need,” said Senator Hassan. “This shortage impacts states like New Hampshire, where patients may have to drive hours to find treatment for a substance use disorder. As part of funding I helped advocate for, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $1.4 million grant to Dartmouth-Hitchcock in January to train behavioral health clinicians, para-professionals, and other residents of rural New Hampshire communities to address the substance use disorder needs of residents.”

Senator Hassan then asked Carole Johnson, the Administrator at the Health Resources and Services Administration, how these grant programs help build the behavioral health workforce over the long-term. 

“Thank you for your leadership in supporting and developing these critical programs that are really part of what it’s going to take for us to confront this crisis,” said Johnson. “It’s the types of programs that you’ve helped create that give us the tools to be able to recruit people into the field, to get them the training that they need, and then to deploy them into the communities where they’re needed most.”

This effort builds on Senator Hassan’s work to support those struggling with substance misuse. Since 2017, the Senator has worked to secure a nine-fold increase in funding to New Hampshire to address the substance use disorder epidemic. 

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