[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 17, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COURTNEY GRIFFIN'S STORY

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                          HON. FRANK C. GUINTA

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 17, 2016

  Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, Courtney Griffin was an energetic child who 
always did well in her classes. Once she reached high school, her 
parents were amazed at her maturity and work ethic when she got her 
first job. In order to continue working her job, Courtney's parents 
allowed her to get a car to drive to and from work. Courtney's job 
required her to work late hours and she began hanging around the wrong 
people. She started coming home later and later, her grades fell and 
pills started going missing in their house. The older she got, the more 
times money and pills would go missing. Courtney was eventually 
accepted into the University of Hawaii, but her parents made her stay 
an extra year at home to prove she would not continue her behavior in 
college. Courtney began working for her father, handling all inventory 
duties for his business. She gradually saved up enough money to buy 
another car and got a boyfriend. But then Courtney's story took a turn 
for the worst and she began abusing heroin. She began disappearing for 
long periods of time and began stealing money from her father's 
company. Her parents tried to find her treatment, but all of the 
options were too expensive and their insurance company would not cover 
the bills. So they took Courtney to emergency rooms, hoping to get her 
admitted and treated. At every hospital she was released within an hour 
without any form of treatment. The local authorities told them that the 
only way to get Courtney help was to kick her out and cut her insurance 
so she could receive homeless benefits. Once her parents cut her off, 
Courtney moved in with her boyfriend's grandparents. Eventually, her 
boyfriend was arrested for violating parole and she was all on her own 
in a strange home with people she did not know. One night, she bought 
and used a dose of fentanyl that was 80 times stronger than she 
thought. That night, she drifted away and never woke up. In one day, 
Courtney's parents lost their child to an addiction that went 
untreated. Courtney's boyfriend overdosed in the same house, in the 
same room, in the same bed just a short while later.

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