To the Editor:

The opioid addiction epidemic is the single biggest issue facing New Hampshire today.

Last year, more than 400 people died in New Hampshire from drug overdoses and countless more have had their lives ruined by addiction. Since the beginning of 2013, drug overdoses in New Hampshire have more than doubled.

Like so many other families, we know the pain of losing a promising young adult to the sudden death by opioids, and the regret that an overdose reversal drug was not available in this case.

Fortunately, Kelly Ayotte recently helped write, introduce and pass CARA, a bill that will combat the heroin epidemic in New Hampshire and across the country. CARA stands for Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, and it became law in July of this year.

This bill truly is comprehensive. We were particularly glad to see that it focused on long-term recovery for people struggling with addiction, and the easing of availability for drugs such as naloxone.

If you invest the time in caring for people, we truly believe it will pay off. We’re so glad that Kelly works hard to find common-sense, bipartisan solutions to the most pressing problems we face, and we believe CARA is going to make a huge difference.

Gerri Moriarty and Michael Ballou

Hollis