By Guy Page
Hank “Planet Hank” Poytras and I on WDEV’s Hot Off The Press Thursday, October 16 discussed his startling video of a Brattleboro drug bust: startling because despite allegedly being found in possession of 40 bags of hard drugs, the couple was clearly only mildly concerned.
Hank publishes the Brattleboro News, a video series in which the trained videographer shoots live footage of police encounters, including drug busts.
40 bags is about 10 times the roughly four bag threshold between personal use and intent to sell, Hank said on Hot Off The Press. He noted that many drug users have no legal incentive to stop using drugs, despite the financial, social, and social services impact of chronic substance abuse.
In the video above, the woman waves and says ‘hi Mom’ into Hank’s camera. The man casually smokes a cigarette. They walk away with citations to appear in court.
Windham County is tied with two other counties for second-highest average annual overdose rate for 2022-24, with 15. Chittenden is first with 31.