Ed Baker is a resident of Burlington, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor and a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers. He is in recovery from severe drug use disorder and injection drug use for 38 years. He hosts and produces the Addiction Recovery Channel on CCTV.
I am one of the privileged ones, presented with the invaluable opportunity to share in the deepest grief a parent can experience: the loss of a child. To at least do “something” to help ease the pain for a moment, show caring, affirm suffering. To recognize the beauty of vivid memory. To be close up, not theoretical or intellectual. To feel the shortness of breath and pounding heart, the wordless plea, the desperate clutching, the terrible loneliness somewhat soothed by another’s understanding.
On Aug. 31, a gathering was held on the Peoples’ Lawn at the Statehouse in Montpelier.
The Vermont Overdose Prevention Network and Team Sharing Vermont joined forces and organized an evening designed to provide people with the golden opportunity to bond both in grief and determination; in deep suffering and deeper hope.
The gathering was in honor of International Overdose Awareness Day and intentionally focused upon honoring those lost to drug overdose death; by embracing loss and experiencing grief.
We did this silently, and deeply connected while feeling the resonance of 215 powerful drumbeats in our chests, one for each Vermonter taken in 2021. And we did this for the mourning parents of Team Sharing Vermont at our sides.
In 2021, in Vermont, 215 beautiful Vermonters were taken from us by drug overdose death. 51 neighbors in Chittenden County alone. In 2022, the number of overdose deaths in Vermont is virtually certain to increase. Statistics are all indicating this.
This yearly, worsening trend will continue. Overdose deaths in Vermont have more than quadrupled since 2010, with Vermont having the highest rate of overdose death increase in America in 2021. Our current efforts, although seemingly impressive to some, simply fall short of beginning to mitigate the unprecedented public health crisis we face.
Fentanyl, the most lethal of opioids, has infiltrated the entire unregulated drug supply. Heroin has been virtually replaced by fentanyl. The methamphetamine and other stimulant drug supply now contains fentanyl. Counterfeit pharmaceutical products, such as oxycodone, alprazolam and Adderall all contain fentanyl.
If a person uses any of these unregulated drugs, commonly available in our communities, they will be exposed to fentanyl and at risk of death. International Criminal Organizations are reaping wild profits preying upon Vermonters with addiction and Vermonters who use drugs, with zero concern for human life.
These Vermonters need our protection. Who of us does not need the protection of another?
We gathered on the Peoples Lawn to energize ourselves and move forward in advocacy. We are prepared to expand our numbers and engage the current political/health establishment in Vermont in an ongoing struggle to further expand harm reduction programming here, particularly overdose prevention sites.
And yes, we rose up and out of our shared grief on fire! Like the mighty phoenix, we rose! Our Speakers spoke of hope. Of determination. Of worth and dignity. Of affirmation. Of love. Of needed, lifesaving programming for people who use drugs, with no questions asked, no judgment imposed, no demands made, no stigma.
We need to keep people alive.
We need to move forward in Vermont, following the courageous example of our neighboring country, Canada; and our neighboring state, New York. Voluminous research and lived experience shows unequivocally that overdose prevention sites save lives! We cannot allow our leaders to continue to deny life-saving interventions to Vermonters who use drugs.
Not demanding abstinence and providing a protective environment where people can safely self-administer drugs while we engage them in supportive relationships is the only way to reach a very large segment of Vermonters at risk for overdose death. Currently, in Vermont, there are approximately 10,000 people in treatment for opioid use disorder, with at least that number of people not engaged and at risk for death.
OnPoint in NYC, the first sanctioned overdose prevention site in America, in its first ten months of operation, has displayed remarkable success in reaching and engaging people who use drugs. As of Sept. 18, there were 1,775 registered participants having utilized the facility some 36,668 times, with 500 overdose interventions. To date, there have been merely 8 calls for ambulance assistance. The demand on hospitals, police and public sanitation resources has been profoundly diminished since OnPoint opened. Public disposal of syringes has decreased remarkably in the areas around OnPoint’s locations. Lives are being saved, people who use drugs are being engaged in needed services. The cost savings to New York City is already estimated to be $15,000,000.
How many more Vermonters will have to face the death of a loved one by drug overdose? How many more family members will be taken from us before we take this next step forward?
How many times will the drum beat at next year’s gathering in honor of International Overdose Awareness Day? And for whom will that drum beat?
