by Rep. Gina Galfetti
As the passage of H. 72 looms on the horizon, we must ask ourselves what has gone wrong in the Capital City. Indeed, a bill that takes $2,000,000 away from drug rehabilitation and prevention and allocates it to the establishment of so-called “harm reduction centers” (or, to use the oxymoron preferred by others, “safe injection sites”) lays the groundwork for this commentary on just how dysfunctional the Vermont Legislature has become.
To be clear, we must take bold action to combat the opioid crisis, but investing critical monies in a program that is doomed to fail is not the way forward.
Safe injection sites have no proven record of saving lives in the United States. In fact, facilities such as the ones proposed in H.72 are not among the established vehicles for treatment or prevention that SAMSHA recommends. SAMSHA is the officially recognized body that outlines the best practices for both treating and preventing opioid addiction, but the majority of Vermont’s lawmakers are completely ignoring it. Rather than putting money into proven programs and the expansion of treatment beds, they are taking a chance on a strategy that is illegal under federal law and when established in Vermont will do far more harm than good.
First, even if this program had some merit, we do not have the ancillary services to support these centers. We lack the treatment beds and programming that would help addicts choose an alternative. Second, we have no age limitation on the ability to use the sites, so a 12-year old child could walk in without a parent or guardian and proceed to “shoot up,” no questions asked. And the Department of Children and Families has absolutely no role in reviewing or monitoring use of the sites by minors, despite the fact that those who operate the sites are mandatory reporters of child abuse. Third, but certainly not last among the many objections to these facilities, we have left the Department of Health in charge of writing all of the guidelines for the operation of such centers rather than codifying anything in law. Legislators in favor of this bill are voting for a federally illegal concept that has not been tried by any other state and will be operated under regulations that have yet to be written. “Damn the torpedoes—full steam ahead!”
All those objections aside, assume that these sites come into being. Addicts wishing to use them still need to get to them—most likely at least twice a day! Do we want all of our addicts living in close proximity to these centers so that they can walk to them every time they need a fix? Or would we prefer to have an addict shoot up, get high, and then drive home?
Too often, proponents of this legislation accuse others of being heartless or in some way not caring about saving lives. They are quick to judge, but in reality, they are the ones who are ignoring evidence-based best practices that have a proven record of saving lives and bringing our loved ones home safely to us. Rather than investing money into desperately needed treatment infrastructure that has been proven to be successful, they are wasting money forging ahead regardless of the consequences. These centers will take a considerable amount of time to build, and there is no guarantee that they will remain open and free from federal prosecution.
The bottom line is that the House majority has voted to sink $2,000,000 into a program that not only fails to help addicts get sober, but rather affirmatively enables their continued substance abuse. That is not only irresponsible, but inhumane.