I thought I was a good drug addict I'm
like hey doctors prescribed us so I'm
okay I'm doing what people prescribed
every day if I was to leave now I
wouldn't make it I'd probably OD I'd
probably be one of the guys on the news
I don't need two weeks a month sober
like I need a year sober before I can
finally say okay now I'm like on the
right
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path the United States is dealing with a
major Public Health crisis over the last
decade heroin Rel overdose deaths have
nearly quadrupled the state of New
Hampshire is the epicenter of this
epidemic it has the highest rate of
young adults abusing opioids in the
country New Hampshire is struggling with
how to deal with its opioid problem
namely how to provide its residents with
drug treatment it ranks second to last
in the country for spending on substance
abuse programs so unless New Hampshire
residents are able to pay thousands of
dollars for private programs they're
stuck on monthl Long waiting lists
leaving them vulnerable to fatal
overdoses
we've come to Serenity place in
Manchester which is a rehab treatment
facility that unlike others lets you in
regardless of your financial
situation what's the most common
substance that people come in and saying
that they have a problem with um heroin
by far yes sir and is that something
that's gotten worse over the few years
or I would say so um the state of New
Hampshire and really New England as a
whole um is experiencing quite the
opiate epidemic um but heroin has has by
far been the most um common substance
that we've seen our clients try to detox
from and receive treatment for how
difficult it is generally for someone
with a substance abuse issue to get
treatment whatever kind of treatment
that is um unfortunately it's very
difficult at this period of time there's
such a lack of awareness out there um
amongst the general public and there's
um an incredible lack of treatment
that's available and what's the
situation right now do you have a
waiting list or do you have some beds
available we do have a waiting list um
specifically this time of year my rough
estimations that we're looking at about
a handful of weeks while getting access
to drug treatment across the state is a
major problem one unlikely source is
helping addicts get the care they need
it's the state prison in Berlin New
Hampshire here 68 inmates are enrolled
in one of the country's more intensive
substance abuse treatment programs they
live on one block together separated
from the general population have daily
group therapy and oneon-one sessions
with counselors the idea is to create a
structured Community with mandatory gy
and therapy where these inmates are
working together towards
sobriety I got out last October I left
this place with the sparks in have it so
what's the next available thing go back
to heroin and cheaper Brian Champion is
one of the participants in the drug
treatment program he first got sent to
prison for stealing a marijuana plant
from a frat house at a college in New
Hampshire this was classified as a home
invasion and he was sentenced to a
maximum of three years he's back in
prison now because he violated his
parole on drug related charges and was
court ordered to come to Berlin for this
drug treatment program Brian's addiction
really began in prison to deal with a
stress of incarceration he was abusing
Suboxone a medication originally
intended to help opioid abusers slowly
wean off drugs but that is now widely
abused by inmates I'll never forget I
left conquered State Prison somewhat
detoxing because I hadn't done subox in
a little while and I'm supposed to enjoy
this day I just got done to him 4 years
finally with my wife and I was kind of
sick and it sucked and I remember my
wife dropped me off at parole and I was
like hun I'm going to walk home cuz our
house was only like a few blocks away I
walked home I stopped at the store and I
see an old friend he had subx and and so
I took the subox instead of the heroin
and that was it like I had that connect
and I went straight right back to heroin
and I had syringes and I took off
running right then and there and it was
hard to come off I was doing two to
three grams of dope a day plus a gram of
coke and not only do I think it's hard
to just get help but on the streets
there's a wait you know especially in
New Hampshire I try to stop twice and go
to detox or get help and everybody said
3 months now somebody trying to quit
heroin and somebody says come back in a
month or 3 months I'm like okay I'm
going to keep using until then you know
what I mean and I had to go to the
hospital and him I was going to kill
myself just to get admitted into the
hospital cuz when I detox I'm a diabetic
my sugar goes Skyhigh like soon as the
doctor came back in I she's like I'm
sorry I have to release you as much as I
don't want to I have to let you go and I
looked at her and I was like I'm going
to kill myself and she's like what do
you mean and I told her I was like if
you let me go I'm going to go find
something to shoot I don't care what it
is I'm going to shoot it up I'm going to
kill myself and she looked at me she
goes thank you for saying that that's
what I needed you to say she couldn't
tell me to say it but she's like I'm
glad you said it changes everything
we'll get you admitted that's a pretty
damning indictment of the the
availability of the exactly of the
programs out if you're basically going
to have to go to a doctor to say you'll
kill yourself to get
treatment gent ins we going to have a
group meeting anybody that would like to
participate in the group come on
downstairs please so this is the drug
abuse Treatment Center inside the Berlin
State Prison and every day these guys go
through some group therapy sessions
there's one about to take place now
where they can talk about how the
treatment's going and you know what
they're looking forward to and how
they're working on helping themselves
get themselves clean just touch base on
what is a high-risk situation for you as
far as relapse I would say my biggest
relapse triggers would be um big
emotional changes or big big things
happening that I have no control of over
in the streets you know famili uh for me
it would be like too much free time or
extra money or like not not having a
schedule of things to stick to my you
know biggest trigger is just being
around negative people know always want
complain about what's going on and like
also I said boredom I can't always sit
there and occupy my time so sometimes
it's like oh well I'm going to do this
Escape you know and feel good today it's
hard to stop by yourself especially on
the street or even in here when you're
using every day and say you need to wait
4 months to get in to somewhere you can
say I want to go to the drug program
they'll put you in in a couple weeks
it's a lot easier to get in in
here half the people in prison don't
really belong there they're primarily
nonviolent and mostly substance abusers
Dr Harry Wexler was one of the first
people to study drug treatment programs
in prison he discovered that these
programs significantly slow down the
revolving door of incarceration the
people who wind up in prison are those
where all the institutions didn't work
prior to prison education didn't work
Social Services didn't work nothing
worked outside then there's this path
into prison one of the things that's
unexpected positive consequence is that
when you get into trouble and you get
into treatment that can give you
opportunities you wouldn't have had
before you have the benefits of the
treatment from helping you in recovery
and helping you reduce your recision
rates but the key is that when you leave
prison that's important for some of you
guys that might be getting out sooner on
this program are you worried about what
might happen once you get out there and
there is certainly no support for your
you know your treatment and your your
your process of getting off whatever you
were using but now I'm reaching to the
end of my my bid and I'm like all right
well I need to take the initiative and I
need to learn coping skills I need to
learn what are my triggers I need to
learn all this stuff so when I go out
there I'm not out there so to speak
naked with nothing I like to see
addiction as not a good or bad thing but
as like a healthy or sick thing this
isn't my first time with treatment but
it is the first time I've seen inside of
a institution them make an effort to
help us get better instead of punishing
us for something we're doing wrong I
mean as a treatment provider what I ask
you all to do I ask you all to feel the
pain to be sad to feel other emotions
instead of just taking your drug and get
high and I'm like yeah sign me up right
guys you know I mean getting sober is
painful it hurts it's challenging it's
physically sick it's emotionally sick um
every day is a challenge every hour some
of you guys it's one minute at a time
it's not one day at a time is that fair
to say I get through that next minute
you guys talked about uh structure in
boredom boredom is a number one risk
reason for relapse fair to say so that's
why here we try to push you know
schedule yourself you know the mandatory
child at first you guys were like but
there's a reason for our Madness well
the mandatory thing has help because it
forces you to go and once you're there
you you feel better about yourself you
know and I I do want to add on that I am
concerned about when leave here because
I have multiple injuries back I need
both shoulders replaced and usually
opiates kick me back into relapse and uh
I just need something more intense
because in the past I've always relapsed
back to uh opiate since I was put back
in prison so this program here has huge
potential um I'm hoping that they get
some more money in the budget because we
can use a few more counselors um lot
more things um cuz there's guys here
they really want it I want it how do you
feel when now you're
clean I hate it sometimes to be honest
with you but I love it it's weird I hate
it but I love it cuz I have to deal with
stuff but I love it that I can deal with
stuff with clean head now that I'm sober
and Stu like that I'm like I wasted all
these good things that I could have been
doing and been like close to my wife and
here I am you know what I mean so like
all those feelings come back like I'm
glad I got them back like I'm glad I can
feel sometimes now that I'm not known
like so if something's bothering me I
can talk about it given that the
treatment access is still hard out there
what are your feelings towards leaving
this quite strict program to then
suddenly going out and having no sort of
regime if I was to leave now I wouldn't
make it I'd probably OD I'd probably be
one of the guys on the news there's no
way I can make it right now cuz I know
no matter what I need some type of
long-term treatment program when I leave
here I don't need two weeks a month
sober like I need a year sober before I
can finally say okay now I'm like on the
right path some of these inmates may end
up serving the final portion of their
sentences in a halfway house these
facilities usually only provide minimal
support for drug users my daughter's
little she doesn't want to sit in there
more than 5 minutes so we come out here
and play anex sopis is in a woman's
Halfway House in conquered New Hampshire
she became addicted to opioids after
being prescribed perco setes for a year
and a half blowing a shoulder injury her
addiction escalated once the hospital
cut off her prescription anik then
bought pills in the street so she
wouldn't get sick from withdrawing from
the perco setes she went from pills to
heroin and then sold drugs to fund her
habit she eventually got caught and was
sentenced to a maximum of 4 years in a
woman's prison anik is serving her last
year in the halfway house before being
released back into the community how
hard is it to stay clean and you know is
the threat of relapse something that
you're worried about yes I am very
worried about it because it's happened
so many times the relapse is one thing
is what comes after the relapse a lot of
the family members will get mad at you
for relapsing and why didn't you ask for
help and why this and why that it's at
the point in time when it's happening
you just don't want to disappoint them
again so you well for me anyway I tried
to hide it the best I can but for me
addiction I live through it as a kid my
father was an addict and I hated drugs I
want nothing to do with it when it
happened to me I just could not believe
it had happened to me knowing so much
about it and having suffered through it
as a kid I could not wrap my head around
that it happened to me I really couldn't
do you often look back you know on your
path to addiction from something that
was just prescribed to you by a doctor
which you're not going to question do
you look back and just go yeah I can't
believe that that's what's happened
every day every day that I get up and
when I see my actions I do the same
thing to my child what my dad did to me
and I remember exact how I felt when I
was a kid to my dad going to jail or my
dad getting arrested or my dad being out
partying once I realize what I'm doing
and remember how I felt as a kid I hate
myself for it every day for doing it to
her she's my kid she's my love she's my
life she's everything and I would never
intentionally hurt her but she suffered
from my addiction a lot other women
who've gone out there fully
transitioned and from if you've spoken
to them what's their experience of the
support that's out there and are you
concerned about that or you feeling
pretty confident since I've been in I've
seen people come in do their bed leave
and come back for a setback once twice
so it is my concern that there's not
enough out there because I would say 80%
of the people either going back in with
a new bid or coming back here for a
setback I feel like it's rough and I
don't believe the support is there the
state is having a tough time supporting
people who need drug treatment New
Hampshire can only serve 4 to 6% of
young adults in need of care this is due
to a small tax base in the state of New
Hampshire and to the sheer number of
people who need treatment far
outweighing the capacity of State funed
facilities sadly this treatment Gap
isn't something new and it isn't only a
problem in New Hampshire for the past 50
years only 10% of people who need drug
treatment actually end up getting it
across the United States but today with
the historic rate of opioid related
deaths people are paying more attention
than ever to drug treatment and it's
becoming a topic all candidates are
debating during the 2016 presidential
election when somebody is addicted and
seeking help they should not have to
wait 3 4 months in order to get that
help they should be able to walk in the
door tomorrow and get a variety of
treatments that work for them we have to
do more on the prescribing end of it
there are too many opioids being
prescribed and that leads directly now
to heroin addiction why do you think New
Hampshire has this problem I just think
everybody wasn't ready for opiates the
signs and stuff like that cuz opiates
when you're on them you can you can be
the greatest talker in the world you
know what I mean you can connive anybody
and everybody thinks everything's fine
until they really notice there's a
problem when people are dying people are
robbing people are stealing from each
other hurting each other and then new
hampsh was like oh we might have a
problem as more and more Americans die
from abusing opioids programs in prison
are often an addict's Last Hope for a
clean future with the chance to turn
their incarceration into a shot at
recovery Brian and anik might be some of
the lucky ones but drug treatment in
prisons should only be a last resort
unless we get drug offenders into
treatment instead of prison we will
continue to needlessly criminalize drug
users and will'll keep using prison as a
Band-Aid rather than finding a
longlasting solution
a
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