“Safe injection” sites are coming to a community near you.
by Kolby LaMarche
On Friday, in an 8-4 vote, the Vermont legislature’s Committee on Appropriations advanced a bill that would create a pilot program looking to construct two “overdose prevention” sites throughout Vermont.
You may have heard numerous other, mostly focus-group generated, names: safe injection sites, overdose prevention sites, supervised injection sites, the list goes on.
Point is, these sites operate as state-managed facilities where Vermonters can use illicit substances under supervision, offering assistance in case of overdose and connecting visitors with “resources” – resources the state doesn’t have.
In June 2022, Governor Phil Scott vetoed a legislative bill on injection sites, strikingly similar to the current legislation under consideration once more.
However, in this instance, in 2024, our Democratic super-majority legislature is likely to seize any opportunity to flex its political muscle, overriding Governor Scott’s vetoes.
Thus, Vermonters get your needles ready!
In other, connected, news Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger has been publishing a slew of editorials across the state in obvious preparation for a bid to become Vermont’s next governor.
One of them, published on January 3rd and titled Drug crisis needs state action, Weinberger advocated for “an overdose prevention site pilot”, among other things.
Given Miro’s pursuit of increased visibility, I’ll happily use his administration’s record to highlight one of my concerns about these “injection sites.”
In 2022, Mayor Weinberger’s administration, under approval from the council, initiated the construction of a “pod” community on Burlington’s Elmwood Ave to address homelessness.
Throughout the process, residents, including those with disabilities and seniors in McKenzie House Apartments, expressed strong discontent and had legitimate safety concerns regarding the risks associated with a ‘steel-tent city.’
Rather than addressing errors and community concerns, Director Brian Pine, a Weinberger administration official, justified the lack of public consultation, stating “It’s not in the public interest to have the city go solicit neighborhood support for something as important as this.”
I could foresee something similar happening with Vermont’s soon-to-be-mandated injection sites.
Where, despite concerns over safety for themselves and their neighbors, communities will be forced into submission because these sites will be “too important”.
Once “safe injection” sites are fully operational in Vermont, the state legislature is likely to explore other approaches too.
For example, the idea of “safe supply,” involving the government furnishing controlled substances to individuals grappling with addiction, has already been part of Vermont’s discussions on addressing the drug crisis.
Judges at both the state and federal levels have shown receptiveness to the concept that governments can be held accountable through legal action for causing direct harm to their citizens.
Across the United States, youth activist groups have been filing lawsuits against both states and the federal government, alleging their negligence has worsened the impacts of climate change.
What, then, is to happen if Vermont faces lawsuits from current or former addicts, accusing the state of not just overseeing self-harm but also providing the means for Vermonters to harm themselves?
Weinberger, like nearly every Democrat, pledges in each election to address the root causes of our crises, emphasizing real solutions rather than merely treating symptoms.
Though, in this case, Democrats are again very obviously treating a symptom, overdoses instead of addiction itself, aren’t they?
Our representatives ought to own up to voters and be honest. Acknowledge that, for decades, they’ve dropped the ball on Vermonters lost in drug addiction.
They should admit that they’ve achieved nothing, creating virtually no new treatment beds and outright refusing to tackle underlying economic hardship which often contributes, massively, to drug addiction.
Our nation was once fooled by Big Pharma and the Sackler family when they told us that OxyContin was a “safe” drug. Now, the Sacklers are bowing to multi-million dollar lawsuits and our communities sit in continuing ruin.
If you are in Vermont, safe injection sites are coming to a community near you. And now is the right time to reflect on what the words “safe” and “compassionate” really mean to you.
Burning Sky is dedicated to providing critique and commentary on the issues of the day from an unapologetic perspective, fueling change in the heart of Vermont. Authored by Kolby LaMarche every Saturday.
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Categories: Commentary, Drugs and Crime, Health Care
Compassion is the new word for eugenics. Weinberger and his comrades with their”do gooding” fakery don’t want to alleviate or eliminate addiction or suffering, they just want to make it look like they’re doing something to make themselves feel better about their complete and utter failure to deal with it, as well as homelessness and all the other current societal ills. What they are doing is enabling the suffering to continue. This applies to the newly proposed bill that legalizes theft of goods under $900.00 as well. When will Vermont’s tax paying voters wake up and recognize that this is madness? Weinberger for governor? No way!
…the moonbats dont like that word “eugenics” any more, but they continue to enthusiastically embrace it’s concepts by funneling public funds to Planned Parenthood etc.
would not vote for this guy for dog catcher/// the dogs are smarter than he is///never would be able to catch them///
Personal take: Myself and my fellow Diabetics need to swarm these sites. If we don’t shoot up, we could DIE. Also, why is noone dealing with the single addiction for which “cold turkey” can prove fatal: alcohol dependency? That’s what this is all about, letting people die while mitigating natural consequences like opioid withdrawal.
Before promoting any new magical feel-good remedies for society’s addiction problems, perhaps we ought to look back on some of the past strategies for “harm reduction” and “in the interest of public health” that have, in my observation done just the opposite:
-needle “exchanges” were first proposed and marketed to the public as a system where someone could swap their dirty, bloodied needles/syringes for clean ones, one for one. We all now know that they have simply devolved into giveaway programs where needles are distributed by the dozens and no demand is ever made to turn in the old ones. The bloodied, potentially pathogenic ones are routinely discarded in public places where they can be contacted by children and pets. IV junkies make a conscious choice to engage in the well-known risks of their behavior, while innocent people who get stuck with an improperly discarded needle made no such choice.
-motel rooms given out based on the honor system to junkies who claim they have nowhere to live provide them with the luxury of privacy, which has resulted in numerous overdose deaths. We may declare that housing is a “human right”, but if they stayed in a communal shelter, someone would likely be around to intervene in their overdose.
-The widespread availability of Narcan now gives junkies a false sense of security to bring themselves even closer to the overdose abyss every time they shoot up, with the assumption that it will save them. That only applies if someone is around that has Narcan and is able to administer it in time.
-The police and news media used to publicize the packaging stamp on dangerous batches of heroin/opioid powder when there was a cluster of overdoses. It has been realized that information has been used by the most serious junkies to seek out the “good stuff”. That cautionary information is no longer available for those more careful junkies who may wish to avoid trouble. Now we taxpayers are providing free fentanyl test kits, and those kits are reportedly being used to allow the serious junkies to seek out the most potent product.
If the overdose numbers and rates of blood-borne diseases were going down, we may think we were on to something but the numbers keep rising. Pardon my insensitivity but at what point do we re-introduce the concept of personal responsibility to the opioid addict community and stop treating their SELF-INDUCED SITUATION as if it is everyone’s problem?
Here’s an interesting reality for the State of Vermont, as they seem to hold no knowledge of it:
FEDERAL LAW SUPERCEDES STATE LAW. ALWAYS.
And the distribution and possession of ILLEGAL (please use dictionary for definition of word “illegal” if uncertain) drugs within the USA (and I believe that includes Vermont therefore) is a FEDERAL CRIME.
We can only trust that once the dog and pony show of Obama’s third term as POTUS is over and an upright, law-abiding POTUS is installed, that the DEA will close down each of these sites in compliance with said federal law and mandate the users into long-term treatment and the dealers into prison and eventual deportation whenever applicable.
How utterly Inhumane these leftists are in wantonly desecrating the rule of law, destroying American culture, and in enabling, aiding, and abetting the deaths of those struggling with addiction.
The test case for allowing the distribution of Federally prohibited drugs has been tried in Vermont and several other states with cannabis retailing, so that cat is out of the bag. But I dont doubt that having the injections facilities is just another step, and the next WILL be the distribution of “safer” pharmaceutical alternatives to street opioids, at taxpayer expense at those facilities. We essentially already do that with Methadone and Suboxone being given out at “clinics”, to “treat opioid use disorder”, and they euphemistically call it “medication assisted treatment”.
It’s not going to be a hard sell to the public as long as the advocates in the legislature say “it’s the right thing to do” and the ignorant majority of Vermont voters go along with it. It’s all in the interest of “harm reduction” of course…
big pharma needs more money///
So following a visit to one of these sites, are the patrons allowed to wander out into the parking lot and drive off? There will have to be some entertainment provided to attract and keep the junkies there.
Great idea. How about drag queen shows? Those are just riveting, particularly for children.
Have the legislative proponents even thought of this? We have laws in Vermont that hold bartenders, waitresses, bar owners and even the owner of the bar property responsible for the irresponsible acts of drinkers. Who will bear responsibility for the acts of junkies when they leave the establishment? Will taxpayers be on the hook?
Will dealers be hanging out in the parking lot looking for customers like they do at the methadone clinics?
Why not just give them a damn drug prescription. Safe injection of what? You bring your own drugs that make your arm rot off, and then we have to fit the bill? You get inner city gangsters to come her to supply them and start gun fights? Cut the crap. People will do drugs no matter what, so give them clean drugs with a prescription and get rid of all the other issues that are a result of the black market economy they created. Stop giving children that don’t pay attention in school meth (aka adderall), and use the special education funding to make learning more interesting to them. Most of these “druggies” were drugged up from age 5 by the school systems, incentivized by big pharma/government incentive programs. Most of the politicians are also on prescription drugs that have *homicide* listed in the side effects labels. Wouldn’t you think someone taking something that dangerous should be disqualified from holding office, or any type of position where you don’t want homicide? Just look at these people eyes, they have a demon in their soul.
I have a thought about an obvious and available injection site where Weinberger can stick it…
How about sending drug traffickers to jail for decades, so people don’t get addicted in the first place? That’s a better option.
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? The government is the drug traffickers. We used to have life in prison mandatory minimums for just possession, and it did nothing to stop drugs and crime related to drugs. It actually made it more violent and damaging to society.
People will always get addicted to drugs. People have the right to do what they want to their own bodies. Yes, arrest the bad guys, but more importantly prevent the bad guys from getting generated in the first place. The government funds and orchestrates the bad guys, sells guns to drug cartels, and puts children on the pharmaceutical equivalent to cocaine and meth from a young age. We have the largest prison population in the world, largely due to the drug war. I don’t want to pay to house a bunch of criminals. I don’t want to pay for the schools to give children drugs so they don’t know how to cope with life in their natural brains. I don’t want to generate an infinite source of funding to criminal organizations both public and private.
I know most “right wingers” hate illegal drugs. But we really need to change our message if we want to be the ethical, moral, and prudent people. Over 24% of the population are on pharmaceutical drugs for “mental health reasons”!!! This is absolutely ridiculous! These drugs they are taking are MUCH more dangerous than most illegal substances! I hate both legal and illegal drugs, but I’m not willing to risk the continued violence and destruction that keeping them illegal is causing. Write people prescriptions for their drugs, and lets get on with our lives. The ONLY solution is freedom. Doctors prescribing, and manufacturers of medications that have “Homicide” listed on the side effects, need to be put in jail when someone taking their medications goes and shoots a place up for no reason, obviously having a medication side effect. I’d like us all to stop just going along with the system and get the perspective of reality!
There are bad things all around, and the only solutions are freedom and accountability. Everyone needs to be accountable, and *we the people* will need to do our part to hold those accountable who do harm. With our current two-sided system, we let the government decide what’s harmful, we let the government protect their friends, we let them choose the winners and losers, who does and doesn’t go to jail, and who we are allowed to associate with. None of this is lawful.
Are Montpeculier now working with the Cartel and trying to maintain customers ? That is what it looks like, since having a site for people to shoot up was tried AND FAILED. It is insanity ! BUT the majority of Vermonter’s voted these people in office. That doesn’t say much for their moral compass. Making a safe place for people to break the law is so ridiculous. Helping them get over their addiction will compassion YES, but making a safe place for the to muddle in their addiction fixes nothing and benefit the big drug dealers.
Get ready for poop and tents cities on the sidewalk. What a lovely example for the children.