NH DRUG CHIEF SAYS PUBLIC MISCONCEPTION A PROBLEM

CONCORD (AP) -- The state's top drug officials sees a litany of missed
opportunities when it comes to helping people overcome addictions, but he's
working on improvements.

Riley Regan has been director of the New Hampshire Division of Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Prevention and Recovery for less than a year. But he isn't
inexperienced -- in addition to holding a similar job in New Jersey, he
knows what it's like to be an addict.

"I was in recovery myself. I had a little bit of a heroin problem," he
said. "I'm in my 36th year of alcohol recovery. I ended up on the other
side of the criminal justice system.

"The key is getting somebody early, long before chronic illness, before
they lose their job, before family violence issues," he said. "There's a
real need to develop some alternatives to jail."

While there are private treatment centers in the state, their numbers are
declining.

"Most programs we fund are basically full and have waiting lists," he said.

Another problem is a lack of connection between levels of government. For
example, the state recently secured federal funding for client-run halfway
houses but failed to open any, therefore foregoing the money.

Regan estimates 70 percent of the prison population is addicted to alcohol
or drugs. And experience has taught him that if judges can choose treatment
over jail, they often will.

He recently requested $2 million from the state, half for prevention
programs and half for planning.

"I'm going to put forth a task force in New Hampshire to look at the
emerging heroin problem, see what treatment is needed and how much we need
to regulate programs," he said.

Regan believes heroin has become a much bigger problem than most people
realize. With that and other drugs, people too often associate substance
abuse with mental illness, poverty or crime, he said.