Today the White House Deputy Drug Czar announced a grant to help law enforcement fight heroin and other drugs from coming into the state. New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports.
The U-S Attorney's office in New Hampshire opened more than 100 new drug investigations during the 2004 fiscal year.
Law enforcement officials say more people die from drug overdoses than car accidents in the state.
But of all the drug cases, those involving heroin continue to play the largest role.
The problem has caught the attention of White House Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns.
(One of the things that has struck me in coming here is that you have a serious problem with Heroin and opiates, and Drug Czar John Walters has asked me to talk to people here to find out what we can do to make the problem smaller.)
Burns says a 150 thousand dollar grant will be part of the solution.
The money will go to a program that helps state local and federal law enforcement work together to fight drug trafficking in certain areas.
George Festa is the program's Executive Director.
(The Lawrence Lowell area supplies Maine New Hampshire and Vermont with various types of drugs including heroine and crack cocaine. This money is going to enable us to work intelligence driven investigation in that area, and also help us in New Hampshire and other parts of the states.)
Festa says they've also received an additional 200-thousand dollars from the White House Drug office for interdiction; to stop the drugs from coming from New York into both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns also emphasized the need for more treatment programs for drug users.
More than 100-thousand people nationwide are in need of treatment, but can't afford it. And in New Hampshire, at least 14 treatment centers have closed in the last ten years.
For NHPR news, I'm Amy Quinton.
