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Vermont Quits War on Drugs to Treat Heroin Abuse as Health Issue
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:13 pm
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:13 pm
quote:
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State address in January to what he called Vermont’s “full-blown heroin crisis.” Since 2000, he said, the state had seen a 250 percent increase in addicts receiving treatment. The courts were swamped with heroin-related cases. In 2013 the number of people charged with heroin trafficking in federal court in Vermont increased 135 percent from the year before, according to federal records. Shumlin, a Democrat, urged the legislature to approve a new set of drug policies that go beyond the never-ending cat-and-mouse between cops and dealers. Along with a crackdown on traffickers, he proposed rigorous addiction prevention programs in schools and doctors’ offices, as well as more rehabilitation options for addicts. “We must address it as a public health crisis,” Shumlin said, “providing treatment and support rather than simply doling out punishment, claiming victory, and moving on to our next conviction.”
Vermont has passed a battery of reforms that have turned the tiny state of about 627,000 people into a national proving ground for a less punitive approach to getting hard drugs under control. Under policies now in effect or soon to take hold, people caught using or in possession of heroin will be offered the chance to avoid prosecution by enrolling in treatment. Addicts, including some prisoners, will have greater access to synthetic heroin substitutes to help them reduce their dependency on illegal narcotics or kick the habit. A good Samaritan law will shield heroin users from arrest when they call an ambulance to help someone who’s overdosed. The drug naloxone, which can reverse the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose, will be carried by cops, EMTs, and state troopers. It will also be available at pharmacies without a prescription. “This is an experiment,” Shumlin says. “And we’re not going to really know the results for a while.”
quote:
Despite such skepticism, Vermont’s new policies passed the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature without much opposition from law enforcement groups. Even Marcoux says he’s “got an open mind to it” and will be “waiting to see what statistics tell us about the success rate.” One champion of the over-the-counter naloxone legislation was Republican Representative Thomas Burditt, a libertarian. “I was surprised,” he says, because the new naloxone rule “just flew right through.” He calls it “a no-brainer,” and says he got no pushback from voters. “As everybody knows, the war on drugs is lost, pretty much. It’s time to go down a new road.”
LINK
This is exactly what needs to happen to the WOD. Don't criminalize people being addicted and sick, it needs to be treated as a public health issue. Punitive approaches aren't working and have never worked on a large scale.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:19 pm to Sentrius
Vermont has it right on this issue
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:21 pm to heartbreakTiger
New motto: "Live Free And Die"
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:22 pm to heartbreakTiger
This is the point of our system right? Let the laboratories of democracy known as the states try out different policies and see what works.
Hopefully this will be beneficial to Vermont and the junkies in the state.
Hopefully this will be beneficial to Vermont and the junkies in the state.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:37 pm to Duke
quote:
Let the laboratories of democracy known as the states try out different policies and see what works.
Correct. This is only going to wind up as a very successful approach to take and is just another notch in the effort to wind down the evil that's the War on Drugs.
We're not a democracy btw.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:39 pm to Duke
quote:
Let the laboratories of democracy known as the states try out different policies and see what works.
Sure ... until activist judges crush the democratic vote of the majority of the people ... as we have seen on too many other occasions in which the people of a particular state made their position well known.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:41 pm to Sentrius
quote:
Leniency won’t apply to traffickers or major drug suppliers. “The culture hasn’t shifted if you’re a heroin dealer,” says South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple. “If you’re trafficking hundreds of bags of heroin a day in our community, we’re probably not going to [think] much about, you know, ‘How can we help you?’?”
I've got no issue with trying to help out junkies as long as this is the case.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:45 pm to Sentrius
quote:
We're not a democracy btw
OMG we all fricking know!
Sorry, I'm sick of this getting brought up every time someone uses the term. You get the fricking point.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:50 pm to Duke
Just fixing a problem govt created in he first place.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:54 pm to Sentrius
A state that's nearly homogenous and non-violent is going to have an easier time doing this than a state with a more diverse ethnic and income populous.
It's a start, though.
It's a start, though.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:55 pm to Golfer
How do we get the word out that all the junkies need to go to Vermont ASAP ?
Posted on 8/25/14 at 9:59 pm to navy
quote:
navy
You're a terrible poster man.
I've read you for the past several months, and there is never anything to back up your elementary rhetoric.
No links. No studies. Just a continuous repetition of the same elementary banter.
We get it. Drugs are bad. Okay.
You don't like drugs. Also okay. That's your prerogative.
quote:
until activist judges crush the democratic vote of the majority of the people ... as we have seen on too many other occasions in which the people of a particular state made their position well known.
Another example. What does this have to do with anything in this thread? The people of the state didn't vote this policy. They are being led by their elected leadership. This was not a ballot initiative of anything.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:17 pm to CherryGarciaMan
quote:
CherryGarciaMan
Likewise ... I get your modus operandi as well.
I don't need links from some biased BS website to back-up my position.
People with eyes see it every day.
I'm not sorry if my "continuous repetition" bothers you.
So ... party on, brother. You do your drugs.
I'll enjoy my legal bourbon ... we'll both eventually reach the same outcome.
If you could see and understand what I deal with on a daily basis ... you would understand my hatred of drugs, which I am unashamed of.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:23 pm to navy
quote:
I'll enjoy my legal bourbon ... we'll both eventually reach the same outcome. If you could see and understand what I deal with on a daily basis ... you would understand my hatred of drugs, which I am unashamed of.
You high right now?
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:28 pm to Stingray
quote:
You high right now?
Point taken. I should have been more specific.
But I can spend about $18.95 on a handle of Jim Beam from the local military base ... and make it last a good 1-2 weeks (less time during football season) ... enjoying a finger or two after days of work and after the kids go to sleep.
My family still lives very comfortably, and the practice in no way endangers my job performance or security.
Pretty sure the same cannot be said for those who enagage in the use of meth, crack, heroin, and probably even worse shite that I've never even heard of.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:30 pm to navy
quote:
Pretty sure the same cannot be said for those who enagage in the use of meth, crack, heroin, and probably even worse shite that I've never even heard of.
quote:
There are people who use these drugs on a casual basis and are as productive as you. Alcohol more dangerous than meth, crack or heroin
Nov. 1, 2010 -- Alcohol abuse is more harmful than crack or heroin abuse, according to a new study by a former British government drug advisor and other experts.
Neuropharmacologist David Nutt, MD, of Imperial College London, and colleagues rated 20 different drugs on a scale that takes into account the various harms caused by a drug. Drugs are rated on nine harms a drug causes an individual and seven harms a drug causes society.
This post was edited on 8/25/14 at 10:32 pm
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:32 pm to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
There are people who use these drugs on a casual basis and are as productive as you.
And would you call that the norm or the exception?
Seriously ... you know a lot of people that regularly use crystal meth ... and live productive, normal lives?
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:34 pm to navy
quote:
And would you call that the norm or the exception?
The norm.
quote:
In 2011, 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older (or 1.6 percent) had used heroin at least once in their lives. It is estimated that about 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become dependent on it.
LINK
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:36 pm to navy
You controlling you alcohol just does not add much to the discussion of our national drug policy.
The issue is, and will always be: do the substantial monetary, human life, and freedom costs of the war on drugs outweight the negatives that would result in legalization?
The issue is, and will always be: do the substantial monetary, human life, and freedom costs of the war on drugs outweight the negatives that would result in legalization?
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:46 pm to navy
quote:
Seriously ... you know a lot of people that regularly use crystal meth ... and live productive, normal lives?
Amphetamines, including methamphetamine, are among the primary drugs of choice among medical professionals. Helps them stay awake and focused on quick call turnarounds.
The whole "faces of meth" and related campaigns are mostly Reefer Madness-esque propaganda.
This post was edited on 8/25/14 at 10:47 pm
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