Staff reports 8:30 a.m.
Sunday, May 22, 2016 8:34 am

Doug Griffin during remarks made at the Capitol Friday. (Courtesy photo)

WASHINGTON - New Hampshire families visited the Capital this week to share stories of loved ones lost to the heroin epidemic.

First Congressional District residents Doug Griffin from Newton, Chucky Rosa of Seabrook, as well as Anne Marie and James Zanfagna of Plaistow, attended a Thursday hearing with members of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, before appearing Friday morning at a Capitol Hill press conference.

At the hearing, Griffin told the story of his daughter Courtney, who died of a heroin overdose in 2014. "For people who don't understand," he said, wiping away tears, "just let them talk to me a while. I'll help them understand."

Representatives Frank Guinta (NH-01) and Annie Kuster (NH-02), co-founders of the Bipartisan Task Force, organized the events in partnership with Addiction Policy Forum. They are co-sponsors of legislation that forms the basis of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, which the House passed last week. It includes Rep. Guinta's amendment to increase funding to long-term addiction recovery programs and his bill to protect first responders, who administer emergency treatment to overdose victims, from prosecution under civil liability laws.

"It's hard to describe in words what Mr. Griffin and other families must be feeling. Just witnessing their emotion puts our work here in Congress into focus. Numbers will never tell the true story of personal devastation, due to heroin and opioid addiction," Rep. Guinta.