HB226

Its criminal to keep a plant given by God to Humanity illegal.

Harm reduction strategies are effective and can make a considerable difference in our communities. I strongly support this bill because it can provide life-saving drug testing kits to individuals struggling with substance use disorders or addiction. This bill can also help members of our communities who do not use drugs, to provide safe and effective methods to help others. The NH Harm Reduction Coalition has made a seismic difference in The Granite State, and I want to recognize the role that this organization has played. Through following the efforts of the NH Harm Reduction Coalition, we can humanize SUD and addiction, and we can help to save lives and ultimately reduce deadly overdoses.

Use of drug testing equipment is an approach to reduce accidental death and overdose. This is a harm-reduction measure that will save lives.

To The Chair and Committee Members, Let me be frank, if the testing equipment saves 1 life it's worth it! Rep. Harriott-Gathright Hills 10

Drug test strips save lives. They should be made available for free!

I am a volunteer at the TLC Recovery Center in Claremont. The center is active in supporting those in our community who struggle with addiction. I support House Bill 226, knowing the disease of substance use and how it affects so many, not just those with the addiction but their family and friends, also. Please support life- giving measures for those in need.

The is a potentially life saving bill.

[Art.] 2. [Natural Rights.] All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state on account of race, creed, color, sex or national origin. June 2, 1784, Amended 1974 adding sentence to prohibit discrimination. [Art.] 2-b. [Right of Privacy.] An individual's right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent. December 5, 2018 [Art.] 4. [Rights of Conscience Unalienable.] Among the natural rights, some are, in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the Rights of Conscience. [Art.] 5. [Religious Freedom Recognized.] Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and reason; and no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession, sentiments, or persuasion; provided he doth not disturb the public peace or disturb others in their religious worship. June 2, 1784 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -Declaration of Independence My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth. – George Washington Give me liberty or give me death. -Patrick Henry An unjust law, is no law at all. -St. Aquinas, Martin Luther, & MLK Jr. Any law that which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all. -Maximilien Robespierre It’s the duty of everyone to defend and promote religious freedom. -Pope Francis One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. -MLK Jr. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. – Abraham Lincoln If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so. -Thomas Jefferson An unjust law itself is a species of violence; arrest for its breach is more so. – Ghandi Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt. -Ghandi When a law is unjust, it is only right to disobey. -Ghandi Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law. -Henry David Thoreau Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? – Henry David Thoreau Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25 — A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. There can be no doubt. This is no little matter. It must be confronted and defeated. — Jeff Sessions Laws protecting religious freedom and conscience rights are just empty words on paper if they aren’t enforced. No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice. For too long, governments big and small have treated conscience claims with hostility instead of protection, but change is coming and it begins here and now. — Office of Civil Rights Director Roger Seravino President Trump promised the American people that his administration would vigorously uphold the rights of conscience and religious freedom. That promise is being kept today. Enforcing these statutes, some of which have been on the books for decades and some of which have lain largely dormant will expand and complement the already excellent work that Office of Civil Rights does protecting all Americans civil rights. Fundamentally, protecting the rights of Americans of faith, living up to our constitutional obligations is about building a nation of tolerance and that is a goal that matters deeply to all of us. When faithful Americans are bullied out of the public square and out of public service, when bigotry is allowed to flourish we all lose as individuals, as communities, and as a country. — Acting HHS Secretary Hargan It is enshrined in our own constitution in the first amendment that we have no established religion, but neither do we impede anyone’s religious practice. There is free exercise. The free exercise of religions seems to be misunderstood by some. It’s not the ability to have a religion and practice it in your place of worship. It’s the ability to be able to have a faith and live your faith wherever you are. If you have a faith and can only practice it in your certain place of worship you don’t have real religious freedom, you have allowance to be able to go to where you want to go when the government chooses for you to go there. That’s not who we are. We are a nation that says have your faith practice your faith wherever you are, in any location that you exist. I believe there is not a flood of new cases of religious intolerance. I think this is an opportunity for people to be able to say “this has existed for a while and I felt no one was listening. Now someone’s listening and I want to be able to express I have been biased against.” It’s a reasonable thing for a nation to be able to reach back to them and to say let’s find out, and where its wrong let’s fix an injustice. It’s the basic function of government to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves and to settle the issue of injustice for all people. — Oklahoma Senator James Langford The federal government should never pursue to define the matters of the church, it should never pretend to dictate, define, contradict, or contravene religious belief. This is not the governments business, but rather it is the right and responsibility of the church and of the American people. Furthermore and just as important, the government should never presume to prohibit any citizens free expression of their faith. In other words, religion is not merely some secondary matter regulated to ones private life, but rather it is a public priority of personal values and corporate morals and something that all faithful people live out on a daily basis in the market square of life. This is not the government’s business said James Madison. The government should leave the church alone and never presume to tell people what to believe, or how to or how not to practice their faith. A Conscience and Religious Freedom Division should not be necessary, all of government should be that division, but at a time when our courts believe that they have the right to redefine a very Sacrament of the church we need this commission, we need this division, and I am grateful for it. —Dr. Everett Piper President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University Our understanding and defense of religious liberty comes from recognizing its important role as the core of our first amendment freedoms, as the critical buffer between the state and the individual. It is the expression of our founders acknowledgement and respect for human dignity and the essential and undeniable right to conscience free from government intrusion. — Montse Alverado Executive Director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Please listen to the evidence regarding harm reduction strategies. Working together with options like treatment and care, harm reduction reduces overdoses, the spread of disease and keeps communities safe. Many dedicated professionals, educators, advocates and those with lived experience have been at this for decades now - we need to hear them. Support the use and distribution of drug testing equipment legal and safe. Give people the tools they need to stay safe.

This will save lives.

Please vote for HB 226. As our families and communities continue to suffer devastating deaths to opioid overdoes - we need to adopt evidence-based strategies to save lives. HB 226 will legalize the use and distribution of test equipment. To vote for this bill is to vote to save lives.

I have facilitated the FASTER Family Support Group for adults with a loved one with SUD every Tuesday for the past 23 years. We have lost too many of our loved ones who have died from accidental overdoses. Having testing material available to detect fentanyl could save many lives as we work diligently to get those suffering with SUD into treatment. There is no hope for a dead loved one. Thank you for passing this bill.

This bill provides the tools to address drug overdose deaths I support it %100 and urge the committee to do likewise.

Due to the increase in access to these lethal drugs, like fentanyl, I feel that anything we can do on the ground level to fight the spike in opioid death is critical. It has been my experience in the field, working in addiction and recovery these last 10 years, that lives have been saved when people have access to testing kits. In order for people to finally get to the point where they can accept help and get treatment, we have to keep them alive.

Hello, it is critical to support HB226. Due to an increased flow of fentanyl into New Hampshire, overdose deaths from opioids have reached levels not seen since 2015. Adopting evidence-based harm reduction strategies to save lives is the correct thing to do. HB 226 would make it easier for Granite Staters to access life-saving drug testing kits to prevent overdoses. Thank you.

As a person in long-term recovery and a professional in the substance use disorders treatment field, I am all too familiar with the deadly consequences of substance misuse. Even when the consequences are not fatal, the economic impact on the healthcare, welfare, criminal justice, and myriad other systems is significant as is that on the family and friends of the individual using substances. One way of reducing all of these impacts is by reducing the impact that substance misuse has on the physical well being of the individual who is using. Drug testing equipment provides a way to do exactly that. While it may not stop a person from using any more than it will cause a person to use who otherwise would not, it can help that person to make a safer choice about using, leading to lower health impacts.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.