Opioids get the attention, but meth still a problem

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Mickey Valliere knows first-hand just how difficult it can be to recover from a methamphetamine habit.

While much attention is being paid to the high danger of fatal drug overdose associated with heroin and fentanyl, methamphetamine remains a serious and debilitating problem in the community.

Valliere, 60, is a Gilford man who volunteers at Navigating Recovery. He has been sober for 11 years.

Born in Manchester, a long period of substance misuse began with alcohol when he was a teenager and advanced to valium and later methamphetamine.

Prison and rehab

He served stints in prison and made 52 recovery attempts before he reached a point in 2007 where he knew he would die if he didn’t get sober.

“I was backed against the wall so many times and I was thrown in the can and had to do time,” he said. “I did drugs in there. I was so, so sick, just plain sick, and I knew I couldn’t function any more. I couldn’t think straight.”

He said he is a perfect example of someone who has come back to live a productive life after a substance misuse problem. He is active in his church and has a passion for helping others going through what he went through. He is able to take joy in simple things like fishing and hockey.

He said he wants people to know they can also find pleasure in life again and that help is available in the form of counselors, doctors, therapists and medicine.

Meth problem

Jacqui Abikoff, executive director of Horizons Counseling Center, is one of those providing such help. She said many of the people seeking assistance from her organization are trying to recover from meth dependency.

“We saw a gradual increase in meth probably a year to a year-and-a-half ago and then all the sudden it exploded,” she said.

The drug is often is used in concert with other narcotics.

“A majority of the clients who come in for services who use opioids also use meth,” she said. “The perception is that meth is safer than opioids because the risk of dying from an immediate overdose is lower.

“But it's a slower death. Meth is a horrible drug that ruins families and ruins lives as do opioids.”

Fatal overdoses

Kim Fallon, the chief forensic investigator for the New Hampshire Office of Chief Medical Examiner, said that in 2017, meth caused or contributed to 11 deaths in the state.

There were more than 400 drug overdose deaths in the state last year, with most related to opioid use. The total number of deaths is likely to rise after final toxicology reports are analyzed.

Although meth use does not lead to as many overdose deaths as opioids, the drug is highly addictive and debilitating, with users often going through binge cycles. Severe weight loss, itching, major dental problems, confusion and mental problems are associated with meth use.

Abikoff said there has been so much attention to the deadly danger posed by the powerful synthetic opioid, fentanyl, some people might be more attracted to try meth, but this would be a bad decision as well.

“It is so seductive, a lot of people become addicted the first time they ever use it,” she said.

Police Sgt. Kevin Butler said meth use has been a problem in Laconia for quite a while.

While the substance can be created in small batches, it has become harder to find the necessary precursor chemicals and much of the drug is not presumed to be manufactured in large labs, including in Mexico.

The drug is a stimulant, while heroin is a depressant, so sometimes a drug user will take one before taking the other.

Mickey Valliere, who has been sober for 11 years, now is able to take joy in helping others and in simple pursuits like fishing and sports. He wants people to know help is available for those with substance misuse problems, including methamphetamine dependency, which remains a problem in the community, even though much of the public attention is on heroin and synthetic opioids. (Courtesy photo)