Shaheen holds roundtable discussion on substance misuse

CLAREMONT, N.H. — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen made a visit to the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center on Monday, where she held a roundtable on substance misuse prevention with members of Youth CAN. 

Youth CAN (Claremont and Newport) is part of the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Program, which provides grants to community coalitions, with a goal of addressing substance use disorder crisis among youth. The roundtable discussion focused on how the entities of law enforcement, government and schools can collaborate to discourage children in the Claremont and Newport communities from abusing alcohol and marijuana. 

Shaheen has put together legislation and secured funding designed to battle the opioid epidemic, which includes the support of the DFC Program. She recently introduced the Keeping Drugs Out of Schools Act, which establishes a new grant program that allows DFC coalitions to partner with schools. This helps provide resources to educate students about the dangers of drug abuse. 

“It is crucial that we reach children as early as possible to educate them about the dangers of substance misuse, and one of our most effective tools to do that is the Drug-Free Communities Program,” said Sen. Shaheen. “I’ve strongly advocated for the program and was happy to meet with Claremont and Newport’s coalition and discuss their critical work to prevent substance misuse.” 

Shaheen said it is important for her to hear about what is working and what isn’t, and what can be done to make the program more effective. 

“Youth CAN is a great collaboration between Newport and Claremont, and the fact that they’ve included schools, law enforcement and recovery, is all critical to ensuring that we can address substance misuse at the youth level and community level,” Shaheen said. “One of the reasons I wanted to be here is because we authorize and fund the drug free communities program every year, and that’s where the funding comes from for Youth CAN.” 

Shaheen said that there are often fewer resources in rural areas, and people live further apart. There are other challenges with schools in terms of the tax base. She said an important point made by Newport Police Chief Alex Lee was that it was all connected. 

“If we’re putting more money into the schools, we may have less money for other things that we may need,” Shaheen said. “So having the ability to access federal dollars to help with that is really important.” 

Shaheen also toured the Lebanon-based cutting products and software manufacturer, Hypertherm, and then continued her “Invest in NH Tour” at Colby-Sawyer College’s Shaefer Center for Health Sciences. She secured $1.5 million in Fiscal Year 2022 government funding legislation to build the center, with an effort in addressing critical health care workforce needs through training nurses.