The Upper Valley may be far removed from America's cities and suburbs, but its inhabitants face the same problems of substance abuse that have traditionally been associated only with urban centers.
Numbers don't necessarily reflect the extent of substance abuse in the Upper Valley. In the past four months, the Lebanon Police Department made only 13 drug-related arrests. Only a single person was charged with dealing drugs.
However, officials at Headrest -- an organization that provides counseling services and referrals to the Upper Valley community -- said they fielded drug-related crisis calls from 219 people in the month of January alone.
"It's a problem that concerns everybody, not because everybody uses, but because each substance abuser affects so many people other than themselves," said Robert Bryant, who is program director for a prevention training organization.
Upper Valley residents use drugs for many of the same reasons as people in the rest of the country. Underlying most drug abuse, treatment professionals said, is a desire for escape from pain and unhappiness. However, there are a number of unique factors that contribute to drug use in less-developed areas like the Upper Valley.
"The myth is that substance abuse doesn't happen in rural places," Gina Capossela said. "Substance abuse actually happens earlier and with a greater likelihood in rural places than in urban places."
Capossela is the prevention services coordinator at New Hampshire's Child and Family Services.
Treatment professionals disagree about which substances present the most serious threat to Upper Valley residents.
"Heroin seems to be more prevalent now than it has been. It's becoming very popular," said Shawna Smith, a counselor at Headrest.
Most heroin abuse occurs in adults, according to Capossela, and is correlated with other social difficulties like unemployment and legal difficulty.
"We do hear about heroin use by high school-aged kids in more built-up places like Lebanon and Hartford," Capossela said.
Prescription drug abuse is also a widespread problem, according to some counselors.
"A lot of people here abuse OxyContin," crisis counselor Adele Kautz said. OxyContin is a very strong narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine, according to the Food and Drug Administration's website.
According to others, however, most serious drug problems in the Upper Valley are more related to marijuana use than the abuse of "hard" drugs.
"I think pot is the primary drug of abuse in most cases for young people here -- it's all around," Bryant said. "People like to fan the flames, but we don't have that many heroin addicts."
There are a number of drug prevention and treatment initiatives in the Upper Valley, but this safety net has some glaring weaknesses. Almost no inpatient treatment facilities exist for teenagers in Vermont and New Hampshire, for example.
"In terms of the number of kids who need treatment and can't get it, it's an epidemic," Bryant said.
Leaders encouraged students to become involved.
"Getting involved, especially with middle school-aged kids, works," Capossela said. "Big brother-big sister programs are the most effective thing we have going."
