Williston
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JANUARY 18, 2024
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
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Injecting safe spaces into drug policy House passes overdose prevention center bill BY JASON STARR Observer staff
It wasn’t the first time Sydney Swindell came upon the discarded needles of heroin users in the Taft Corners plaza where she owns a physical therapy business. But it was the most alarming. On a midday dog walk along the rec path near the abandoned Vermont Tap House at the corner of Route 2A and Marshall Avenue, Swindell’s dog pulled her toward a stash of dozens of discarded needles (see photo, this page). Swindell has taken it upon herself during previous such encounters to don gloves, pick up and dispose of needles, but this find seemed beyond her capacity. “To find that much paraphernalia out in the open was really eye-opening for me,” she said. “It was just an excessive amount to even attempt to address, and it’s right on the main street in Williston.” Swindell called the Williston Police Department, and, while she was told that the property owner is ultimately responsible for cleanup, an officer was on site later in the day with cleaning supplies. “It’s no worse than they’ve seen before,” she recalls the officer saying. “That was the comment that got me.” Opioid-related overdose deaths in Vermont reached an all-time high in 2023. The most recent data from the Vermont Department of Health shows that there were 180 deaths through September of last year, a 21 percent increase over the three-year average. Swindell, a Williston resident and parent, said her local peers assume that heroin use is a Burlington issue. “A lot of snarky comments get made that ‘Burlington is going down the tubes,’ but it’s not just Burlington’s problem,” she said. “It’s all of our problem … I would love to know what a good solution to it is.” OVERDOSE PREVENTION CENTERS
Vermont’s response to heroin addiction has been multi-faceted. Its decade-old “hub-and-spoke” treatment system created centers for daily addiction treatment and “spokes” that integrate treatment into the larger healthcare and wellness system. The state has also implemented clean syringe distribution and drug purity tests; decrim-
Dozens of needles and syringes typically used for drug consumption were left behind recently near the vacant Vermont Tap House at the corner of Route 2A and Marshall Avenue in Williston. OBSERVER PHOTO BY RICK COTE
inalized the addiction treatment drug buprenorphine; expanded access to the overdose-prevention drug naloxone; and passed a bill that assures people won’t be prosecuted for drug possession if they call 911 in a medical emergency. “Vermont has tried all these different things, but our overdose rates continue to go up, so I think people are more open to thinking about more comprehensive approaches to keeping people safer,” said Gray Gardner of the Drug Policy Alliance, which lobbies in Vermont for drug policy reforms. “People are starting to understand
the crisis more than they did before.” Gardner is part of the Decriminalize Vermont Coalition that worked with the Legislature on crafting H.72, a bill that allows for the creation of “overdose prevention centers” — medically supervised locations where people can use drugs lawfully with immediate access to overdose prevention medication and referrals to long-term treatment options. The bill provides immunity from drug possession charges for someone using or working at the facility. The House of Representatives passed the bill just after the new year. It now goes
to the Senate. If approved, Gov. Phil Scott would get a chance to weigh in, and he has so far been opposed to the concept. The governor “continues to believe the unproven sites would divert resources away from more impactful and proven harm reduction, treatment and prevention strategies,” Scott spokesperson Jason Maulucci said in December. “They also remain federally illegal which is not contemplated in the bill.” Williston Reps. Angela Arsenault and Erin Brady both voted for the bill. In an email to the Observer, Brady noted the emotional nature of testimony given at the Statehouse regarding the bill, revealing that she has lost a cousin to an overdose and that, in her role as a high school teacher, she has counseled students with friends and family members suffering and dying from substance use disorder. “Almost all of us are now touched by addiction,” she said. The testimony of firefighters in Burlington who described to lawmakers their dayto-day response to overdose calls “really informed my final decision,” Brady said. “One firefighter … implored policy makers to try new approaches because the status quo is out of control and unsustainable.” Arsenault noted that the bill would allow for two overdose prevention sites as a “pilot program.” “The simple fact is that overdose deaths are on the rise and what we are currently doing has not worked,” Arsenault said. “We absolutely must try everything possible to keep more Vermonters alive. Prevention sites are hopefully one of many effective strategies in the large, complicated landscape of substance use treatment and prevention.” In a statement of support, ACLU Vermont (the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union) said: “These facilities not only save lives — they also make our communities healthier, result in fewer discarded needles in public spaces, and reduce the transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other blood-borne pathogens by giving people access to clean needles and disposal boxes. ‘FUNDAMENTALLY GOING TO SAVE LIVES’
Overdose prevention centers have been operated in Canada and European countries see DRUGS page 7