Don Bolduc, the Donald Trump-aligned retired Army brigadier general who is the Republican nominee for Senate in New Hampshire, has claimed that administering the lifesaving opioid treatment naloxone to overdose victims keeps them addicted and leads to people getting thrown into the welfare system, according to audio newly obtained by HuffPost.

Naloxone, commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan, is used to stop the symptoms of an opioid overdose, either through a nasal spray or muscle injection. The drug counters the slowed-down breathing that often leads to death. Available over the counter, its frequently carried by police officers and paramedics and has been credited with reducing overdose deaths as the opioid crisis rages on throughout the country.

Bolducs comments, which were made during his first run for Senate during the 2020 election cycle, enraged recovery advocates in the state, who said the candidate is helping uphold the stigma around addiction.

Its barbaric, said John Burns, who is in recovery and runs the nonprofit SOS Recovery and once served on a council advising New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on addiction issues. It just shows me he has very little understanding of addiction, treatment and recovery.

New Hampshire, where Bolduc is challenging Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, was once considered ground zero for the opioid crisis. It had the nations second-highest overdose death rate in 2015.

But even as the coronavirus pandemic and the widespread availability of fentanyl a synthetic opioid far more powerful than Oxycontin or heroin drove national overdose deaths to a record 107,000 from December 2020 to December 2021, the Granite State has managed to keep opioid deaths down. It had the nations 22nd-highest overdose death rate in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

A key reason is the widespread availability of Narcan. Public officials in the state, including Sununu, have encouraged people to keep the treatment handy and be prepared to intervene.

The extent to which Narcan has been available in New Hampshire has absolutely influenced our overdose death rate, said Tym Rourke, the senior director at Third Horizon Strategies, a health care consulting firm, and a former chair of a state panel on substance abuse. New Hampshire was one of the only states in the U.S. without an increase in annual overdose deaths in 2020, and weve seen some slight declines. Availability of naloxone is absolutely a part of that.

In audio obtained by HuffPost, however, Bolduc twice expressed skepticism of Narcan and of public health interventions more broadly. During a meeting with Republicans in the town of Hollis in July 2019, Bolduc downplayed a 5.1% decrease in overdose deaths an apparent reference to a national decline from 2017 to 2018 that has since been reversed. (His comments start at about 1:09:57 in this recording .)

Its not success, because what its directly related to is the use of Narcan by our first responders who save people, and others in the community that have the Narcan that are able to bring them back to life, he said, later adding: Giving someone drugs whos already on drugs ... keeps them addicted on a legal drug and then they cant work, so they get thrown into the welfare system and it makes that more expensive. And so its a cycle and a generation of welfare that we keep dealing with, and we have to stop that.

And during a campaign stop in Windham in September 2020, Bolduc questioned the importance of money going to harm reduction programs, and said that not everybody wants to recover from addiction. (His comments occur at about the 23:37 mark in this video .)

I give [New Hampshire Democratic Sen.] Jeanne Shaheen credit for getting this state $69 million for opioid crisis, but its going to harm reduction. Methadone and Suboxone. Needle exchange, syringe exchange. And were not curing the problem. We need prevention, Bolduc said.

Youre not gonna be able to solve the problem by giving people drugs another drug to keep them off a drug, he added. It doesnt work. We need prevention. We all we need treatment and we need services that, you know, help people in recovery. But then we have to realize that not everybody wants to recover and not everybody will recover. And Im sorry, and that might sound cold, but thats a fact. And its unfortunate.

Burns, who advocates for a public health-centered approach to the opioid epidemic rather than one built around law enforcement, compared Bolducs skepticism of Narcan to choosing not to give an overweight person CPR if theyre having a heart attack.

Its like saying that because someone didnt follow their doctors advice on diet and exercise, we shouldnt intervene to save their lives, he said.

In a statement, Bolduc spokesperson Kate Constantini blamed Hassans immigration stances for the states drug problem, repeating an unsourced rumor that fentanyl could be mixed into childrens Halloween candy.

Its no secret the drug crisis is plaguing New Hampshire communities and families, exacerbated by the open-border policies supported by Senator Hassan, Constantini said. Drugs are pouring in and killing Granite Staters. Its a sad day when General Bolduc needs to tell his own grandchildren they cant eat Halloween candy because Democrats like Senator Hassan continue to stay soft on crime and drugs. Well gladly compare our vision for a secure border and strong communities over Senator Hassans pathetic record any day.

While the Drug Enforcement Agency has warned about the spread of multicolored rainbow fentanyl and speculated that the drugs could be used to target young people, theres no evidence the drugs will be mixed into Halloween treats. Beyond being a questionable business tactic for the cartels that traffic the drugs, the idea that illicit substances or razor blades are being snuck into candy is a long-standing myth with no evidence.

The specter of fentanyl which both the DEA and Customs and Border Protection frequently seize in massive shipments at and around the Mexican border has become a key part of GOP messaging on immigration this cycle. While it has not been directly mentioned in any ads targeting Hassan, Republicans have invoked fentanyl in ads aimed at Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in their respective Senate races.

The link between fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration is not nearly as cut-and-dried as the GOP makes it seem, however. More than 99% of the illegal drugs seized by CBP come through legal avenues of entry, like truck crossings and ports, with almost none of the product carried by migrants crossing the border on foot.

An AARP survey released earlier this week and conducted by a bipartisan duo of pollsters found that immigration was the third-most cited top issue among likely voters in New Hampshire, trailing only abortion rights and inflation. Among Republicans, it was second only to inflation.

Hassan seemed to acknowledge her potential vulnerability on immigration by making a trip this summer to the U.S.-Mexico border, where she stood in front of a segment of the border wall and called for more funding for the border patrol a move that led Republicans to mock her as MAGA Maggie and irritated Latino Democratic legislators in her home state.

The AARP survey matched what other polls have shown, giving Hassan a real but surmountable lead over Bolduc, 52% to 45%. National Democratic and Republican groups are still pouring millions of dollars into the state. A Hassan victory would make it difficult for the GOP to win anything more than a slender majority in the Senate, which is now split 50-50.

Neither candidate was popular in the survey, however. Approval of Hassan was split: Forty-nine percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of her and 50% had an unfavorable opinion. Bolducs image was negative, with 42% holding a positive opinion and 51% holding a negative opinion.

Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline .