A statewide drug enforcement program known as “Granite Hammer” is getting some pushback from lawmakers who argue it isn’t working.
The program, which began in Manchester in 2015, is designed to get drug dealers off the streets.
A bill adding $2.4 million more dollars to Granite Hammer overwhelmingly passed the state Senate last month.
But some House lawmakers, such as Manchester Rep. Amanda Bouldin, told the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Tuesday that this program has been a “failure.”
“The state of New Hampshire at this point has squandered enough money to put every single person that they arrested through a treatment program and a large percentage of those people were small time users, they weren’t heroin dealers,” Bouldin told the committee.
Public safety officials, on the other hand, argue the program is working, stressing that when targeting dealers, users will sometimes get caught up in these large drug busts.
The state gave the Granite Hammer program roughly $1.2 million back in July. So far, more than 300 arrests have been made, but it's unclear how many of those arrested were dealers.
