The Need in New Hampshire

New Hampshire boasts a number of favorable traits that make it one of the country’s best places to live, work, and play. From its 8th in the nation favorable business climate to its 1st in the nation “safest state” status (2008, Annie Casey Foundation), New Hampshire has much to be proud of.

Yet, the state is also amongst the top rankings in a number of more undesirable areas. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), amongst ages 18-25, New Hampshire is among those states with the highest rates of ;

• illicit drug use
• marijuana use
• cocaine use
• alcohol use
• binge alcohol use

Perhaps even more alarming is the rise in prescription drug abuse, especially among adolescents in our state. A 2009 story by Elaine Grant calls the situation in NH a “serious, growing problem”. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control reported that New Hampshire was tied for fourth in the nation for the number of methadone deaths.  Drug overdose deaths jumped more than 400 percent from 1995 to 2007, when 168 people died. 

New Hampshire is one of sixteen states nationwide in which more of its residents die from drug overdoses than car accidents.

The sad truth is that the publicly-funded treatment system has the capacity to treat only 6% of those in need. Within the entire states, less than 150 residential treatment beds are available at any given time.

According to the recent New Futures publication We Need to Face the Challenge: Alcohol and Other Drug Use in New Hampshire 2008, “the cost of inaction is too high”.

For example, when examining the underage drinking within our communities, the costs to NH each year are about $180 million, which included medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth. This translates to a cost of $1,397 per year for each youth.  Nationwide, 23 million individuals live with untreated addiction at a cost of $180 billion annually.

Despite these costs, New Hampshire spends the least amount of money per capita on prevention in treatment in the country. There is, without any doubt, an addiction treatment gap throughout the country, and especially in New Hampshire. Besides the financial burden, lives are being lost to addiction, a treatable disease. There is no price that can be placed on the life of a child, parent, or friend.

Keystone Hall, with the assistance of its community partners, hopes to do their part in remedying this tragedy through the creation of several new initiatives, the expansive of its current programs, and most importantly, the acquisition and rehabilitation of a larger, more suitable facility that will double the agency’s capacity to provide services. See Outcomes

Keystone Needs to Expand To Help Fill the Addiction Treatment Gap

The agency’s current location no longer meets the needs of the Greater Nashua community for a number of reasons.

• The agency operates at capacity every day of the year, Capacity, in this case, is NOT limited by operating dollars, but rather, by the physical structure and characteristics of their leased facility and its location.
• The structural flaws and condition of the current location also prevents the agency from being able to obtain licensure to operate two of its funded and planned programs.
• The existing leased building is located adjacent to an environmentally hazardous, condemned structure scheduled for demolition and remediation in the summer and fall of 2010. We are extremely concerned that when this occurs, the resulting contaminants released into the air will cause our current facility to be unsafe for human habitation.

Keystone Has Found an Appropriate Building!

Keystone Hall entered into a purchase and sale agreement on a vacant 26,000 square foot 2-story commercial building in Nashua, New Hampshire.   The property is ideally located on a city bus line less than 5 miles to the downtown urban core of Nashua, and only 3 miles to the Everett Turnpike. This building will allow Keystone Hall to expand all of its residential programs.   Currently, the agency offers a total of 28 beds; this will increase to 54 beds. A completely segregated family-centered residential treatment program will serve 16 drug-abusing pregnant, postpartum, or parenting women and their children at one time for periods of 9-12 months on-site.   
This will be the only program of its kind in New Hampshire.   See Outcomes

We Need Your Help!

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