[expatvter]

I apologize for not being able to make it clicky. Highlight and search google and it should bring you right to the article.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/down-and-out-vermont_764688.html

[square peg]

Harsh realities. I've long respected Geoffrey Norman's writing.

Here's your link, expat - and thank you for posting this.


Down and Out in Vermont | The Weekly Standard

[DauntlessDan]

Read the article. Sad.....so sad. It is not the first one I read regarding drug abuse in Vermont or even Rutland. It seems the state has fallen quite a bit even since I lived there in the 1990s. Drug abuse was always a problem when I was there in the 1990s and we had our gang bangers from the cities coming in and trying to become established. But it seems is has only gotten worse. It is good that Vermont is still fighting the problem and trying to come up with new solutions, both in the treatment and policing fields. Don't give in and admit defeat Vermont.

[WPANative]

I'm a Pennsylvanian who brags about Vermont. We spent a good part of our honeymoon in Burlington. I'm just sickened more and more every day when I read stories like this. I was recently browsing the forums and ran across a post on gangs in Oregon. Two of the most pure states in our nation, Oregon and Vermont, now facing this nonsense.

This country has just gone to hell.

[OhBeeHave]

While I am happy that there are programs in place to help rehab individuals, I find it ridiculous that a number of active addicts are on taxpayer-funded programs. There should be some tough love here -- you want your benefits, you must periodically submit to a drug screen. Why bother getting clean if you're being handed money and food? Perhaps the state should be a little more stringent when it comes to welfare benefits?

I had been spending a fair amount of time by myself in Chester; now I am starting to rethink whether this is safe or not as I am down a long dirt road and far from neighbors. Should I worry about some addict breaking in looking for money or things to pawn? Back here on LI, we are seeing an increase in crimes which appear to be related to both heroin and the economy. Most frightening is that many times the dirtbag has pulled a gun.

There was a big drug arrest in town September of 2012, in the Spring the Bellows Falls police chief had a meeting and stated that heroin use in BF has reached epidemic proportions, and just recently a Springfield and a Chester resident were arrested in Enfield, CT with heroin intended for sale. The run up and back to Bradley in CT or Springfield, MA, is so quick and easy; meanwhile, it's also a quick ride from NYC to Bradley or Springfield, MA. The police must be terribly frustrated.

It is heartbreaking to see scum from elsewhere coming in and decimating many lives with this horrible drug. They're like the rats coming in to feed on the crumbs left behind. Only in this case, they're feasting on the hopelessness and boredom caused by a relatively poor economic situation.

If Vermont loosened Act 250 and attracted real business (not low paying retail work) would that have the potential to start alleviating the problem? The article mentions closed down mills, and we hear of people working more than 1 job and struggling to make ends meet. Something has to give.

[arctichomesteader]

I'm often alone in remote areas in VT, doesn't bug me, but I do usually have a gun handy anyhow.

I think if the less dangerous drugs like marijuana were legalized less people would be using the harder drugs. When alcohol was banned people still used it, it just added the violent gangs supplying the banned drinks to the mix.

[FrugalYankee]

The police are VERY frustrated and increasingly so are the citizens.

Police do a good job of catching the dirtbags, but the courts and judges put them right back out on the streets.

There was a case recently in Springfield where the police recognized an out-of-towner as a young man who had lied about his identity. They stopped and searched the vehicle he was in and found a substantial amount of drugs and a key to a safe. The safe contained a LOT of ammunition as well as something like $50k worth of heroin. The judge set the punk free claiming that the serach was not based on probable cause. Lying to a cop is not probable cause.

Apparently we do not have the means to keep these dirtbags in jail, so courts are under order to find a way to let them back out. Catch and release, catch and release.

I completely agree with you about changing Act 250. The idea that any citizen can raise a hand and stop industrial projects sounds lofty, but in practice all that has happened is that - pardon me - morons are making it impossible to bring business here.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

I'm often alone in remote areas in VT, doesn't bug me, but I do usually have a gun handy anyhow.

I think if the less dangerous drugs like marijuana were legalized less people would be using the harder drugs. When alcohol was banned people still used it, it just added the violent gangs supplying the banned drinks to the mix.

I'm a suburban female who is not as familiar with the skills and knowledge you have acquired. I'm learning, but I'm not sure (at.this point in time) I could handle someone breaking in while I'm home. Target shooting is one thing I handle fine, but I admit self defense under duress is another story.

Would legalizing pot reduce heroin use? I'm not sure. Legalization brings government oversight and taxes, driving cost up. One of the draws of the 'new' heroin epidemic is the cheap price in comparison to years ago.

Yes, Prohibition didn't stop alcohol from entering the US or from being produced illegally. Yet with Repeal so many decades behind us, we still have moonshiners, home brewers, and bathtub vintners. Legalizing pot (agreed it should be -- we can use the tax money, just like it Repeal did) would be worth trying.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[mikeandaija2009]

Disturbing to say the least. Drugs, especially heroin, are an epidemic everywhere in the US but it's shocking to read how bad it is in Vermont. The saddest part of it all, in my opinion, is modern medicine and drug companies made heroin an epidemic. Heroin has been around for many years, and unfortunate to some, only an epidemic in isolated areas of the country. My wife, who works in the mental health and addictions field will tell you most of the heroin addicts she sees got their start, not from pot and working their way up the drug "ladder", but by 1st being addicted to oxycontin. Once reserved for terminal cancer patients with severe pain, oxycontin was basically manufactured as synthetic heroin. Doctors started handing them out like M&M's for anything like back and joint pain. Don't think for an instance while they were writing those scripts there was no kickback from the drug companies for them. As patients got more and more hooked, they needed to supplement there addiction with more pills, but they apparently are way to expensive on the street, so they go to the next best and cheapest alternative, heroin. Law enforcement needs to crack down on these doctors.

[Hickory patrick]

Damn'' being as Im from Chicago, reading this was shocking to me, South side of Chicago not so much...good luck people of Vermont..