Seacoast Region Man Guest of First Lady at State of the Union

🔴 President Biden highlighted Doug Griffin and the death of his daughter to fentanyl in 2014

🔴 Doug Griffin, the New Hampshire senior director of the Addiction Policy Forum

🔴 Biden's message was interrupted by several Republicans who yelled "it's your fault"

President Joe Biden used a Seacoast region man as a springboard for his proposal to stop the flow drugs of into the United States, expand access for substance abuse treatment, and overcome the country's overdose epidemic during the State of the Union address.

Doug Griffin of Newton, New Hampshire, was the guest of First Lady Jill Biden Tuesday night. He is also the New Hampshire senior director of the Addiction Policy Forum. The president told joint session of Congress how Griffin wrote a letter to them about his daughter Courtney, who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014.

"Courtney discovered pills in high school. It spiraled into addiction and eventually her death from a fentanyl overdose. She was 20 years old. Describing the last eight years without her, Doug said, 'There is no worse pain.' Yet their family has turned pain into purpose, working to end stigma and change laws. He told us he wants to “start the journey towards America’s recovery," Biden said during the speech.

A Plan to Fight Fentanyl

Biden outlined a proposal to stop fentanyl production, sale, and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo at the border that could hide drugs entering the country.

"Second, let’s do more on mental health, especially for our children. When millions of young people are struggling with bullying, violence, trauma, we owe them greater access to mental health care at school. We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit."

Biden also proposed bipartisan legislation that would stop the online collection of personal data about kids and adults, and ban advertising targeted at children.

Biden's message was interrupted by several Republicans who yelled "it's your fault" as he spoke about the proposal.

In a tweet, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said she was glad Biden gave attention to Grriffin.

"I’ve been fortunate to meet Mr. Griffin several times over the years & applaud his advocacy on behalf of his daughter Courtney," Shaheen wrote.

Other guests of the First Lady included U2's Bono, the family of Tyre Nichols and Brandon Tsay of San Marino, California. He disarmed the shooter responsible for killing 11 people in Monterey Park, California

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH