Gov. Chris Sununu says the growing prevalence of fentanyl-laced drugs is raising concern about “a bump” in overdose deaths in New Hampshire.
Speaking at a news conference outside the Emergency Room at Concord Hospital on Thursday, Sununu blamed drug cartels and federal border policies for an increase in narcotics laced with fentanyl. He urged vigilance, including from teenagers.
“No experience is safe, and we just want parents and kids especially, who again, think they might be doing something, just recreationally, something that quote unquote, doesn’t have the severity, the harm and the danger, to know that one experience is all it takes,” he said.
Sununu cited the wide availability of the overdose reversing drug narcan as a key tool in fighting drug fatalities.
He also repeatedly invoked fentanyl-laced marijuna as a problem, despite no confirmed incidents involving fentanyl-laced marjuana in the state. Cannabis advocates say politicians, public safety officials and some media outlets have created a false myth surrounding the existence of laced pot.
During an unrelated event held earlier this week, Jane Young, the U.S. Attorney for the state, reported a 35% increase in overdoses in Nashua and Manchester in the first quarter of 2022. More than 75,000 Americans died last year of overdoses as a decades-long opioid crisis continues to devastate the country.
