I thought it was a good drug I think I'm
like a doctor's prescribed this oh I'm
okay I'm doing what people are
prescribed everyday if I just leave now
I wouldn't make it
I 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 path the United States
is dealing with a major public health
crisis over the last decade heroin
related overdose deaths of 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 months 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 heroin by far yes sir
and is that something that's gotten
worse over the few years I would say so
the state of New Hampshire and really
New England as a whole is experiencing
quite the opiate epidemic but heroin has
by far been the most common substance
that we've seen our clients tried 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 unfortunately it's very
difficult in this period of time there's
such a lack of awareness out there I'm
on to the general public and there's 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 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 as a major problem
one unlikely source is helping addicts
get the care they need it's the state
prison in Berlin New Hampshire here
sixty-eight 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 one-on-one sessions
with counselors the idea is to create
the structure community with mandatory
German therapy where these inmates are
working together toward sobriety
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 caught ordered to come
to Berlin for this drug treatment
program
Brian's addiction really began
imprisoned to deal with his stress and
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 Concord state prison somewhat
detoxing because I hadn't done suboxone
a little lot and I'm supposed to enjoy
this day I just got thrown doing four
years finally with my wife and I was
kind of sick and then it sucked and I
remember my wife dropped me off at
parole and I was like honey I'm gonna
walk home because 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 suboxone light and so I took this
box instead of the heroin and that was
it like I had that connect and I went
straight back to heroin and I had
syringes and I took off running right
down in there and I was hard to come off
I was doing two to three grams of dope a
day plus a gram of coke and I only do I
think it's hard to just get help but on
the streets there's a weight you know
especially in New Hampshire I tried to
stop twice and go to detox or get help
and everybody said three months now
somebody trying to quit heroin and
somebody says come back in a month or
three months I'm like okay I'm gonna
keep using until then you know I mean
and I had to go to the hospital and tell
him I was gonna kill myself just to get
admitted into the hospital cuz when I
detox I'm a diabetic my sugar goes
sky-high like soon as the doctor came
back in and 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 gonna kill myself
and she's like what do you mean and I
told her I was like if you let me go I'm
gonna go find something to shoot I don't
care what it is I'm gonna shoot it up
I'm gonna 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 it's a pretty
damning indictment of the unavailability
of surgeries of the programs out there
if you're basically gonna have to go to
a doctor to say you'll kill yourself to
get treatment yeah
if I'd like to participate in the growth
come on downstairs please
so this is the drug abuse treatment
center inside a 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 treatments 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 big emotional changes are big
big things happening that I have no
control over over in streets you know
family for me would be like too much
free time or extra money or like not
skip you're not having a schedule things
to stick to my biggest dream is to be
around negative people
about what's going on and like I said
water
I can't always sit there and occupy my
time so I'm trying to say well I'm gonna
do this escape you know feel good today
it's hard to stop by yourself especially
on the street or even in here when
you're using everyday and say you need
to wait for 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 it
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 slowed down the
revolving door of incarceration the
people wound 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 that then there's a path into
prison one of the things that's
unexpected positive consequence is that
we get into trouble and you get into
treatment that can give you
opportunities you end up at before you
you have the benefits of the treatment
from helping you in recovery and helping
you reduce your rescission rates but the
key is then when you leave prison
that's important 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
your treatment in your your process of
getting off whatever you were use it but
now I'm reaching to the end of my my bid
and I'm like alright 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 it's not a good or
bad thing but it was like a healthier
sick thing this isn't my first time with
treatment but it is the first time I've
seen inside of a institution than make
an effort to help us get better instead
of punishing us for something we're
doing wrong I mean as a treatment for
providing what I asked you all to do I
asked you all to feel the pain to be sad
to feel all their emotions instead of
just taking your drug and getting 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
every day is the challenge every hour
with some of you guys at 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 structure
and boredom boredom is the number one
risk reason for relapse fair to say so
that's why here we find of course 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 helped
because it forced you to Goa what you
they
feel better myself you know I don't want
to look at that on that I have discerned
about we leave yet because I have
multiple injuries back I need both souls
replace it and usually opiates kick me
back into relapse and I just need
something more intense because in the
past I've always realized back to opiate
since I was put in prison this program
here has huge potential I'm hoping that
they get some more money in the budget
because people counsellors a lot more
things guys really wanted 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 do is so but I love it
that I can deal with stuff a clean head
now that I'm sober so damn like I wasted
all these good things that I could have
been doing and then like close to my
wife and Here I am you know I mean so
like since 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 no I'm 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 it's actually now I
wouldn't make it
I probably OD I'd probably be one of the
guys on the news there's no way I can
make it right now because 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 so we come out here and
play annex aren topless is in a woman's
halfway house in Concord New Hampshire
she became addicted to opioids after
being prescribed percocets for a year
and a half following a shoulder injury
her addiction escalated once the
hospital cut off her prescription anok
then bought pills on the street so she
wouldn't get sick from withdrawing from
the Perkis
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 four years in the
women's prison
anok 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 lived 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 to happen 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 it yes
every day every day that I get up and
when I see my actions I do the same
thing to my child's what my dad did to
me and I remember exactly how I felt
when I was a kid - my dad going to jail
or my dad getting arrested or my dad
being out partying once I realized what
I'm doing and remember how I felt as a
kid I hid myself for it every day for
doing it to her she's my kitchen my love
she's my life she's everything and I
would never intentionally hurt her but
she suffered for my addiction a lot
other women who've gone out they're
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 all you feeling
pretty confident since I've been in I've
seen people come in do their bid leave
and come back for a set back 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 when
a new bed
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 four to six percent 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-funded
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 ten
percent 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 is
becoming a topic all candidates are
debating during a 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 some of that because
opiates when you're on them you can even
be the greatest talker in the world you
know 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 robbed
and people are stealing from each other
hurting each other and then New
Hampshire's like oh we might have a
problem as more and more Americans die
from abusing opioids programs in prison
are often in addicts last hope through a
clean future with the chance to turn
their incarceration into a shot at
recovery Brian and anak 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 we'll keep
using prison as a band-aid rather than
finding a long-lasting solution
you