In a nearly unanimous vote, the Vermont Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would legalize possession of limited amounts of buprenorphine, a prescription drug used to treat opioid use disorder.
The legislation would allow people to possess up to 224 milligrams of the drug — roughly the equivalent of a two-week prescription — even if they don’t have permission from a doctor, which is currently a misdemeanor.
Supporters of the measure, which has been debated in the Legislature over the past three years and passed the House in April, have said removing criminal penalties associated with buprenorphine possession will save lives by preventing people addicted to opioids from using deadlier alternatives.
Speaking on the virtual Senate floor, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, said he didn’t think he would support the bill when it came over from the House. But testimony in favor of the bill was so compelling that it changed his mind, he said.
“I think it’s an example of the process going the right way,” Sears said.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Sears read aloud a letter he received from a former participant in the 204 Depot Street Program for troubled youth in Bennington, which the senator previously directed.
The writer of the letter, who knew Sears from the program, said he supported the buprenorphine bill, noting that drug treatment can still be hard for many in the state to access.
“I also know firsthand through my own experiences that even when people have treatment options they sometimes don’t access it, or they start and stop and often get kicked out,” Sears said, reading the letter.
“I think there’s a perception that we have a ton of treatment options available,” the letter continued. “What people don’t realize is how almost impossible it is for some folks to get the treatment that they need.”
Backers of the buprenorphine bill have argued it’s important to enact the policy now, as drug overdoses have increased during the pandemic.
“From a medical point of view, it makes sense to ensure that folks who have a chronic illness of addiction are more apt to be on buprenorphine, than to seek out a street drug such as heroin laced with fentanyl,” said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, the chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare.
Heroin laced with fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths, she said.
Sen. Russ Ingalls, R-Essex-Orleans, was the only legislator to vote against the buprenorphine bill on Wednesday.
In an interview, he said the legislation is “switching one drug for another.”
“You want to quit smoking; you quit smoking. You want to quit drinking; you quit drinking. You want to quit doing heroin; you quit doing heroin,” Ingalls said.
Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine also opposes the buprenorphine bill and has said he’s worried it could “disincentivize treatment” and encourage patients to sell their prescribed drugs on the street.
Levine has said he would support the bill in other states, where access to drug treatment isn’t as readily available. But in Vermont, he contends, it isn’t necessary.
Before the bill left committee, the Senate added a provision that would make the legalization of buprenorphine expire in 2023, giving lawmakers an opportunity to reevaluate the policy in two years.
The bill is expected to pass on a second vote Thursday and will then return to the House.