This commentary is by Ed Baker of Burlington, a master’s-level social worker and activist who has worked in addiction health in Vermont since 1985. He hosts and produces the Addiction Recovery Channel and is in personal recovery for 38 years.
What is occurring in our great state of Vermont is almost impossible to express adequately.
How do you capture in words the cumulative grief of thousands of family members destined to live with only the memory of their loved one?
How do you describe the trauma experienced by health care, law enforcement, ER, medical and recovery workers, everyday citizens and people who use drugs who have personally witnessed a Vermonter experiencing accidental drug overdose, perhaps resulting in death?
How do you even begin to realize the overwhelming sense of loss and tremendous responsibility we all secretly share?
I believe we can begin by declaring the truth: We are in the midst of the most severe public health emergency in Vermont history. Period.
Some facts:
- The unregulated drug supply in Vermont is lethal.
- Accidental drug overdose deaths in Vermont have quintupled since 2010 as a result.
- 2022 was the worst year-to-date, with a potential 261 loved Vermonters lost, one every 33 hours.
- 2023 is on course to easily eclipse 2022.
- This trend will continue without immediate and substantial investment dedicated to curtailing it.
My county, Chittenden, appears to be the epicenter of overdoses and overdose deaths at this point, experiencing an ever-increasing velocity, difficult to understand and very frightening.
Sarah George, our state’s attorney, has reported that there are potentially 25 overdose deaths in Chittenden County over the first four months of 2023, while there were 16 deaths over this same period in 2022.
Jon Murad, acting chief of the Burlington Police Department, has recently reported an unprecedented acceleration of police responses to drug overdose. These responses have increased in number by 300%, comparing the first three and a half months of 2023 to the same period in 2022.
At a House Human Services Committee Hearing on Overdose Prevention Centers conducted on April 25, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger eloquently testified, describing the heartbreaking reality we face today, and our need to respond with urgency and innovation.
Mayor Weinberger stated, “We really are on the wrong path now to solving this issue … a very troubling path. … We must go all-in on the principles of harm reduction. … Our system is broken, and urgent, decisive and innovative action is needed to fix it.”
The mayor then asked the committee to consider supporting Burlington’s “ability to pursue this new type of response,” overdose prevention centers, given the absolute gravity of current data.
The mayor, city council, state’s attorney, and acting chief of police, along with health care providers, the recovering community, people who use drugs and many members of the business community are all of one voice. They are crying out for emergency measures because they are unprepared to respond to this horrifying and accelerating public health emergency.
On June 7, 2022, Gov. Scott vetoed H.728, “An act relating to opioid overdose response services … because it directs the Administration to design a plan for the implementation of one or more overdose prevention sites.”
The will of the people, as expressed through our Legislature, was callously and irresponsibly nullified because of a clear political bias.
Had this bill not been vetoed, we in Vermont would be prepared today to act decisively and innovatively to respond to our fellow Vermonters at imminent risk of overdose death, to protect them, engage them, stick with them.
As it stands, we are not prepared, and losing neighbors at ever increasing frequency. This is tragic.
Governor Scott is obligated to face his role in allowing this tragedy to emerge over time by blocking H.728.
In my humble estimation, to not formally declare a state of emergency at this point is the equivalent of attempting to deceive Vermont.
Under this emergency status, a task force needs to be formed immediately, to quickly plan and implement a system of harm-reduction responses, including overdose prevention centers fitted to Vermont’s needs (fixed sites, mobile units and online support). This task force needs to be independent of political influence and can call upon the expertise of several recognized experts in this field in Vermont. There are also nationally recognized experts who are eager to assist us.
In addition, the over $3 million lying idly within currently available Opioid Abatement Funds can be focused upon this emergency response.
I am calling upon all Vermonters to speak out and contact your legislators, Health Commissioner Mark Levine and Gov. Scott.
We are experiencing an undeclared public health emergency. Available resources and emergency responses are being withheld while fellow Vermonters die.
If this were any other population, a state of emergency would have been declared and emergency measures would be under way now.
