State’s Attorney Sarah George, who created the study commission, urged skeptics to keep an open mind, and stressed that current, less controversial practices have left hundreds of Vermonters struggling with addiction.
“They don’t want to be committing crimes; they want to be reliable and trustworthy,” George said.
She hopes the commission makes a recommendation in the next few months on whether the county should open an injection site where street drug users would have medical supervision and be exempt from arrest, she said.
But it is unclear what would happen if commissioners recommend opening a safe injection site, as Seattle plans to do.
Rep. Selene Colburn (P-Burlington) introduced a bill in the legislature that would allow for safe injection sites, but it hasn’t even received a hearing.
George said she would not be willing to take independent steps — such as declining to prosecute drug cases at a potential site — absent legislative approval.
Even if the commission’s work is controversial, George said, she hopes it would spur a broader debate about new strategies to curb opiate abuse and overdose deaths.
“If we actually have this conversation and these people [the commission] tell me it’s a good thing … the legislature will start to listen to these arguments,” George said.
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo and Deputy Chief Shawn Burke are both commission members.
While del Pozo said he is open to the debate, he said he would be unlikely to support the concept unless Vermont’s drug treatment backlog were eliminated and officials at a safe injection site could offer drug users immediate access to help.
“It’s not unheard of for law enforcement professionals to consider these sites,” del Pozo said. “[But] I would have a hard time accepting this if we could not offer treatment without delay.”
Other commission members include Vermont Cares director Peter Jacobsen, Howard Center program coordinator Tom Dalton, Vermont Cares harm reduction program manager Theresa Vezina, Rapid Intervention Community Court coordinator Emmet Helrich and University of Vermont Medical Center physician Patricia Fisher.
Dalton said his agency was aware of several addicts who would utilize a safe injection site.
“We know of people who are using in unsafe settings — and people who are using alone — and would like to use in a safe setting,” he said.
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“They don’t want to be committing crimes; they want to be reliable and trustworthy. ” you have to be living in a fantasy world. If these criminals, these government officials want to paint as victims truly wanted to be law abiding and trustworthy they would not have started using drugs in the first place. This program is just a way for these officials to waste more money and time trying to fix an unfixable problem. The only way to stop the problem is to stop the drugs before they hit the streets. The money this program would cost should be put into education and law enforcement programs.
People should be treated with compassion. Is this actually compassionate? Does it end up doing anything more than just normalizing self-destructive behavior? By decreasing the stigma, is Burlington making it seem OK for non-users to begin experimenting with heroin? I.e., why is heroin such a big deal, we can just go to the city and state-sponsored safe place? There is a difference from marijuana and law enforcement looking the other way if a college student is smoking a joint.
Vancouver’s “legal” site has had about a 4% success rate, around 250 out of 6,500 people in 2015 who actually completed drug treatment. 4% is small but for those 250 people and their families, game-changing for the good.
There is no doubt one group who thinks this is a great idea. The heroin dealers and international mafia who profit from the opium trade. America successfully suppressed the US heroin trade during WW II and could do it again. But funny how our politicians never like to connect the dots to the timing of when the opiate trade and latest problem began to explode in America. After the US intervention in Afghanistan to eradicate the Taliban (who it is widely accepted had successfully destroyed the country’s poppy crops and heroin trade).
Professor Alfred McCoy’s “The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade” is a classic. Also Gary Webb’s “Dark Alliance.” Organized crime likes a reliable source of income and welcomes all the help they can get, including from intelligence agencies willing to look the other way or even to help with transport, arms and political protection if it suits their mutual “needs.”
Not sure if legalizing shooting galleries is a good idea . How will funding these places make things better for the “hundreds of Vermonters struggling with addiction.” Won’t this make the state complicit in hard drug use ? Won’t this will make law , state and health officials partners in this destructive habit .
Citizen, I gotta say – I really like the trolling. It’s nice to have some levity, even when dealing with serious topics like this.
“[If] victims truly wanted to be law abiding and trustworthy, they would not have started using drugs in the first place.”
Right, shame on all those people who developed chemical dependency after being legally prescribed opioids.
“This program is just a way for these officials to waste more money and time trying to fix an unfixable problem. The only way to stop the problem is to stop the drugs before they hit the streets.”
Wait, just so we’re clear – treating addiction as a health issue is trying to ‘fix an unfixable problem,’ but stemming the tide of all drugs is doable?
“The money this program would cost should be put into education and law enforcement programs.”
Do we know what it would cost? This is a study. Furthermore, reaching users in a safe environment seems like a great opportunity to educate about long-term treatment options.
Scott if you had reed any of my earlier post on the subject of the opiate epidemic you would know that I hold the doctors that handed out pills like candy the most responsible for the problem we face today. But no one ever made anyone inject themselves with drugs. And look at the numbers coming out of Canada, 250 out of 6500 is not a successful program. And at some point Scott people have to take personal responsibility for their actions and if they want to get clean they need to enter and pay for a rehab program themselves. It’s time to stop depending on the government to save everyone.