The Burlington City Council decided to move forward with a resolution promoting opiate treatment, but inserted key language saying that safe injection sites won’t happen anytime soon.
The council voted 9-3 to endorse buprenorphine treatment and appoint two councilors to the CommunityStat opiate study committee but will not take concrete steps toward establishing a safe injection facility “until the city council affirmatively votes to do so” in a separate vote.
It took two hours of debate and nine proposed amendments Monday night before the council issued its “yes” vote to the altered measure.
First, though, Councilor Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) rolled out half a dozen experts to speak in favor of the initiative, including Burlington Fire Chief Steve Locke, opioid data analyst Jackie Corbally, and Howard Center CEO Bob Bick.
The resolution “will absolutely save lives,” added Rep. Selene Colburn (P/D-Burlington), a former city councilor.
Councilors Dave Hartnett (D-North District) and Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) opposed the measure, in part, on the grounds that safe injection sites are illegal under federal law. Christina Nolan, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont, has previously spoken against the sites.
Councilor Jane Knodell (P-Central District) introduced a pair of amendments, one noting that the measure wouldn’t actually mean the city was moving forward with a safe injection site, and a second affirming that as the council explored the idea, “the vigorous prosecution of illegal drug trafficking by the City of Burlington will not be compromised.”
The amendments passed, but in the end, Knodell voted against the full measure, criticizing the council for a lack of public input and for not hearing from experts who were opposed to safe injection sites. “I fear we’re falling into group-think here,” she said.
Correction, July 17, 2018: A previous version of this story, and its headline, incorrectly described how the amendments affected the proposal.
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I’m excited about this because I’ve never tried heroin and now I have a safe spot to do so.
I will insist the city provide me with free heroin ALONG with the other paraphernalia needed to shoot up because I want it. And if they don’t give me what I want I will file suit since I feel it would be disciminatory for them to prevent me from safely trying heroin.
If you need a definition of the hypocrisy of an alleged liberal, spell it this way: Jane Knodell.
Councilor Knodell opposed a council resolution establishing places where addicts could legally shoot up heroin – where else, but in the socialistic capital of the United States, would city officials and the top county prosecutor, no less, promote addiction?
But Knodell did so, she said, only because she was afraid the shooting up would occur in – get this – her neighborhood. She said her backyard in the north end of the city is the most obvious place for a “safe injection site” because it’s a poor ‘hood.
If the shooting den were to be located, say, in Councilor Karen Paul’s ‘hood – up on the hill in the pricey section of the city – Knodell would presumably be fine with it.
But maybe that’s precisely why Paul is all for it – she knows it’ll never be located in her backyard (near the Burlington Country Club, alas).
So while you are looking for the definition of the hypocrisy of an alleged liberal, add Karen Paul.
Liberals love promoting a welfare society because that’s where the votes are.
But lo and behold, when they realize that their backyards could be the site of one of their left-wing ideas, whoa, put the brakes on.
SISs are a bad idea. They perpetuate the misery of the addict by giving up on them and expect that there is no help for them except to die an eventual early death. The 100% “positive” studies for SISs are unscientific at best, self-serving at worse. They increase public overdoses, public deaths, public use, needle litter, homelessness, crime.
My arguments against SISs are in the comment section here. I also include more positive scenarios for user/addicts by experts in the field:
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E. Sutor…..I can’t wait! After we are totally out of it those kind liberals will provide us with meals. Then, we can go to COTS for a nice sleep; get up and go back and get drugged Fun!!! The Utopian Society! Can it get any better than this? And….it’s all FREE! Wheeeee! Maybe we could expand this concept to the entire country!!! A drugged and dazed country. We’re headed that way anyway, under the Democrats/Liberals/Communists (one and the same). And then, once we are all in a daze, nobody will invade us. No need to . Just walk right in and take over. We will be safe. We will be taken care of. Nice….