New Hampshire advocates are criticizing a new executive order that targets unhoused people, saying it flies in the face of decades of precedent and policy in the state. The order encourages removing homeless encampments and involuntarily committing people experiencing mental illness and or substance abuse disorder.
But it is unclear if and how this order will be implemented, because of existing state and local laws that have more stringent criteria for involuntarily committing someone.
Susan Stearns, executive director of the New Hampshire chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the state does not have the beds, workforce nor funds to treat a dramatic uptick in mental health patients, depending on how the order is implemented.
Stearns said the state has long had a housing first approach, which focuses on getting unhoused people into safe and secure housing before treating other issues. She said treatment for mental illness and or substance abuse, which are distinct but often co-occurring with homelessness, is far more effective once people are off the streets.
“In New Hampshire, for decades we have had a long standing commitment to utilizing involuntary treatment and involuntary commitment only when absolutely necessary,” she said.
She described increasing this practice and potentially using the criminal justice system more to deal with unhoused people as “very concerning.”
The order also directs federal agencies to pull money from and potentially pursue legal action against programs that use harm reduction practices. These could be programs like safe injection sites, providing information on safer drug use and testing drugs for fentanyl and other harmful substances.
The order says these programs “only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm.” But research has shown harm reduction strategies could potentially reduce deaths from drug use.
Stearns said the mental health system in the state has improved significantly over recent years, cutting down wait times to access inpatient psychiatric care and fewer involuntary commitments.
“New Hampshire has been making great strides, and it would be a tragedy were we to lose ground,” she said.
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