A Family’s Loss: The Devastating Effects of the Opioid Crisis
This is Greg Drugan. He was born on November 16, 1985 to Greg and Linda Drugan of Derry, New Hampshire. He and his younger brother Neil were raised in a caring and loving home. A home where his parents did their best to teach them right from wrong. Where they were taught to be considerate, polite, and kind.
It was a home that raised a boy who graduated with honors from Pinkerton Academy in 2004. A boy who attended Keene State, graduating cum laude with a degree in biochemistry, and dreamed of being a doctor.
Unfortunately, as Greg’s mom put it when she and her family wrote to my office, during the summer between his freshman and sophomore year something began to appear off, “I saw firsthand that something was off about him. He was very quiet and withdrawn. He was showing obvious signs of depression which runs in both sides of the family.”
After he graduated, he moved home. During that time he had an outpatient surgery, after which he had been prescribed an opioid-based painkiller. His mom wrote that after he was prescribed that opioid, he went from bad to worse.
Greg eventually did seek help, and after being prescribed an anti-depressant things seemed to get better. He secured a good job and hoped to keep pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor.
But, Greg eventually lost that job and things spiraled out of control.
Greg’s mother said, “The years following were a nightmare to remember. Just imagine a loved one slowly losing all sense of themselves. Legal trouble, bouncing from one job to the next, losing his license more than once while we drove him back and forth from jobs — some an hour away… A restraining order here, a night in jail there. Debts that weren’t getting paid. Fits of rage, fights, a lack of interest in family, friends, and basic hygiene…”
Eventually, his family discovered that he was using heroin.
The last years of his life were dogged with back-and-forths. He had overdosed, he had attempted recovery by entering rehab, he used again and then was getting ready to enter a drug court program.
However, it wasn’t enough. As his mother put it, “This was short lived however, as the demon snuck into his room and stole him from us. All he left for us was a lifeless body on the floor behind a locked door.”
The heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge that New Hampshire faces. It does not discriminate. It affects people in every community and from every walk of life.
In 2016 alone, 485 people in New Hampshire lost their lives as a result of this epidemic. And the rising use of synthetic drugs like fentanyl is making matters worse — killing people faster and with smaller amounts. Last year, 72 percent of drug-related deaths in New Hampshire involved fentanyl.
But, as powerful as these numbers are, behind them are people — like Greg and his family.
Greg wanted to be a doctor. He wanted to be a husband and a father. He loved dogs and video games. And he lived to watch Patriots games on Sunday with his mom, his dad, and his brother.
As his mom said, “Brilliant and head strong, he was to be reckoned with, and as his parents, we will never stop trying, on his behalf, to see that there is an end to this epidemic.”
Speaking up helps to break down the stigma that prevents too many from seeking help and has, in the past, made it too easy for those who could help to ignore the problem. It provides a voice to the voiceless — making those who have died more than just a statistic. It gives us a perspective from which we can learn — and it pushes us to take action.
We must continue to focus on an all-hands-on-deck approach at all levels of government and with those on the front lines in order to make progress, save lives, and end this epidemic.
I am going to continue fighting and working with members of both parties to combat this crisis. And will continue sharing the stories of the people of New Hampshire.
It is up to all of us to stop this from happening to more families.
