Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series of stories of one person's battle against heroin addiction. At 27 years old, Colin MacNeil is starting his life over - again. Addicted to cocaine by the age of 20 and hooked on heroin and opiate-based painkillers by the age of 23, MacNeil was a graduate of six inpatient drug treatment programs by the time he arrived at the Serenity House in Wallingford earlier this month. He knows what he's up against and he'll be the first to say that there are no guarantees in a fight that's as personal as it is pharmaceutical in nature. [continues 1202 words]
I share Joe Hanson's concerns regarding Keith Flynn's influence over the House Human Services Committee's consideration of medical marijuana for PTSD (Letters April 24: "What is the real agenda?"). "A lack of testimony" was cited as a reason to drop PTSD ("Lawmakers balk at medical marijuana for PTSD," April 12) Why was there no testimony? I can't understand how one man can sway so many lawmakers, especially when considering the fact that apparently no other people were present to offer their professional or personal perspective. [continues 100 words]
MONTPELIER - A Senate panel is looking to wrap up work on a drugged driving bill this week, but questions remain on how the changes it would make in state law would affect Vermonters. Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said current law prohibits operation of a vehicle when a person is under the influence of a drug "to a degree which renders the person incapable of driving safely." Law enforcement is looking to prohibit driving while under the influence of a drug "in the slightest degree." [continues 521 words]
I'm writing a letter in response to the article "Lawmakers balk at medical marijuana for PTSD." It is astounding to me that the committee which was set to vote in favor of adding PTSD to the medical marijuana laws 7-4 until one man, Keith Flynn, stepped in to personally deny our most vulnerable and brave citizens a medication which is easily attainable in other states that allow medical marijuana. One has to wonder what Flynn's agenda is. As a person who owns the title of public safety commissioner he doesn't seem to be working in the public's interest, and he most certainly doesn't seem to be working in the interests of democracy. [continues 125 words]
MONTPELIER - The Vermont House advanced a marijuana dispensary bill Wednesday that includes a study on the revenue effects of legalizing the drug. The House version, passed on a voice vote, stripped the expansion to six dispensaries that was passed in the Senate. The House would keep the number at the current four. Rep. Thomas Burditt, R-West Rutland, who reported the bill on the House floor for the Human Services Committee, said the House version would remove a 1,000-person cap that exists at current medical marijuana dispensaries. [continues 590 words]
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont library is resorting to locking its public restrooms to curb a persistent problem of drug paraphernalia clogging the drains. Burlington's Fletcher Free Library hopes to have locksmiths complete the work this week. Library officials say the bathrooms on the mezzanine level of the library were closed three weeks ago for the third time after needles and other drug paraphernalia clogged the drains. The Burlington Free Press reports that once the locks are installed, library patrons will have to exchange their library card or other identification for a key to the bathrooms. That policy mirrors one already in place for using the handicapped-accessible restroom. The clogged drains were noticed before they could cause water damage to the bathrooms. [end]
MONTPELIER - The House Human Services Committee advanced a medical marijuana dispensary bill Friday without including post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying diagnosis for a medical marijuana card. The committee added a bit of drama to the process, however. Members initially voted 7-4 in a straw poll Friday morning in favor of adding language to the bill, S.247, to allow Vermonters to use medical marijuana to treat symptoms of PTSD. For supporters, adding PTSD was simply an extension of other uses lawmakers have already approved, such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. [continues 523 words]
At about 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 5, Vermont State Police Trooper Kevin Hughes and patrol commander Sgt. Michael Studin pulled over a Chrysler 300 and a red Honda Accord traveling together on Interstate 91 in Springfield. Studin's affidavit says the Chrysler's windshield was cracked and one of the Honda's taillights was cracked. The police found one of those minor violations only after the Chrysler's driver gave permission to search the car. Hidden inside a spare tire in the Chrysler's trunk were 740 one-dose bags of heroin, Studin said. [continues 2379 words]
A drug designed to save the lives of opiate users who overdose will soon be available to a broader population of users and the general public in Rutland. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist medication that revives people who overdose on drugs such as heroin or prescription painkillers, has been available to addicts since November at needle exchange sites in Burlington and White River Junction. But in a pilot program designed to increase the drug's availability, state Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said the West Ridge Center for Addiction Recovery in Rutland would be the first of the state's seven treatment hubs to dispense the lifesaving drug to a broader number of addicts, their family members and anyone else who may need Naloxone. [continues 527 words]
BENNINGTON, Vt. - Stephanie Predel, a stick-thin 23-year-old freshly out of jail, said she was off heroin. But she knows precisely where she could get more drugs if she ever wanted them - at the support meetings for addicts. "I can get most of my drugs right at the meeting," she said. "Drug dealers go because they know they're going to get business." She added, "People are going into the bathroom to get high." Bennington, a pre-Revolutionary town of 17,000 people, presents another face of the heroin epidemic that has swept through Vermont. [continues 793 words]
Editor of the Reformer: In reference to your recent editorial "The next agricultural boon?" (Feb. 1). Not only "all our trading partners can grow these crops (but U.S. farmers can't)," that includes communist Chinese farmers and America's largest foreign debt is with China. It's time to re-introduce hemp as a component of U.S. agriculture. I've been purchasing hemp food products for nearly two decades but the hemp is all imported and I'd rather purchase those products with American grown hemp. A sane argument to continue banning hemp cultivation doesn't exist. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
To the Editor: Lately, marijuana has taken a top slot in the national news. Large sums of money are being spent to investigate, capture, try and imprison those who produce, package and sell it. In spite of this effort, the supply has not been cut off. Whenever society decides to prohibit a particular activity because certain members of our society decide said activity is "immoral" or "sinful," said activity becomes more desirable and more expensive. However, the activity continues unabated. Apparently we have forgotten the 18th Amendment to our Constitution, which banned alcoholic beverages and supplied fertile ground for the growth of organized crime. Whiskey, wine and beer were made illegally in the U.S. or imported by smugglers. Illegal alcohol became a big business. In the 1920s nearly everyone knew a bootlegger or of a "speakeasy" where one could partake in alcoholic beverages. Those of you who were born after the the late 1920s may not remember that one of the planks of FDR's platform in the 1932 election was "Repeal the 18th Amendment." This was done after he was elected with the 21st Amendment. [continues 84 words]
Governor Devotes Speech to It, Seeks Additional $10m to Deal With Crisis MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Behind the facade of pristine ski slopes, craft beer, quaint village greens and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, Vermont is grappling with painkiller and heroin abuse, a challenge leaders say is fueling crime and wrecking lives and families disproportionately in this tiny state. Nearly every day, police across Vermont respond to burglaries or armed robberies investigators believe are prompted by the unslakable hunger for money to feed heroin or pill habits. In many cases, law enforcement officials say, what began as the abuse of prescription drugs has turned into heroin use because it's less expensive and, more recently, easier to get. [continues 355 words]
To the Editor: Reading Ben Barber's op-ed piece ("We'll Pay a High Price for Legalizing Pot," Dec. 20) reminded me once again of the hilarity of listening to educated people saying incredibly stupid things. Having smoked pot for almost 40 years - although not at all in the last 10 - leaves me -eminently qualified to speak to the horrible debauchery of one more late-night munchy attack on the fridge. Just reading this account will reveal to the general public the incredible amount of dementia and brain loss I have suffered as a result of cannabis sa tiva. [continues 131 words]
Montpelier - Backers of a push to legalize marijuana in Vermont are getting help from an unlikely source: retired police officers who spent their careers enforcing cannabis laws. Just months into Vermont's new policy of decriminalization, several high-profile politicians are already talking about moving to outright legalization. Gov. Peter Shumlin last month set the table for legislative action in the next few years by indicating for the first time publicly his support for a tax-and-regulate model. At an event in the Statehouse next month, elected officials in favor of legalization will look to an organization made up of retired law enforcement officers to help make the case. [continues 673 words]
MONTPELIER - Backers of a push to legalize marijuana in Vermont are getting help from an unlikely source: retired police officers who spent their careers enforcing cannabis laws. Just months into Vermont's new policy of decriminalization, several high-profile politicians are already talking about moving to outright legalization. Gov. Peter Shumlin last month set the table for legislative action in the next few years by indicating for the first time publicly his support for a tax-and-regulate model. At an event in the Statehouse next month, elected officials in favor of legalization will look to an organization made up of retired law enforcement officers to help make the case. [continues 670 words]
In the 1920's, Americans learned the dangers of alcohol prohibition. It created a surge in crime as organized gangs fought for control of the underground liquor distribution and ordinary persons who just wanted a drink were targeted as criminals by the state. So why in 2013 are we still making the same mistake with cannabis? In the 2012 general election, 70 percent of Burlington voters said "yes" to the question of "Shall the people of Burlington support the legalization, regulation, and taxation of all cannabis and hemp products?" Legalization clearly has public support and it also makes economic sense -taxation of cannabis would raise vast amounts of revenue for the state of Vermont. [continues 496 words]
WAITSFIELD, Vt. (AP)- Some Vermont farmers want to plant hemp now that the state has set up rules to grow it. But some advocates for a free market of industrial hemp say they'd be risking their farms because federal law doesn't allow them to cultivate the crop that's a cousin of marijuana. Hemp and marijuana share the same species - cannabis sativa. But hemp contains a negligible amount of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. The plant once was legally grown in the U.S. and used to make rope, fabric and other products. But now under federal law, all cannabis plants - including hemp - fall under the marijuana label so farmers could get into trouble for growing it. So far, 19 states have passed hemp legislation, including nine that allow its production. [end]
BENNINGTON COUNTY - The decriminalization of marijuana is now in effect, but some local officials are waving cautionary flags. They believe that it may not only result in increased public use, but cause some other problems as well. The new law - which went into effect July 1 - prevents Vermont residents from being arrested for carrying less than an ounce of marijuana. The law removes the criminal penalties associated with possession of small amounts of cannabis and replaces them with civil fines ranging from $200 to $500 depending on whether a person is a repeat offender. For those under the age of 21, the offense will be treated the same as possession of alcohol, which would include referral for court diversion for the first and second offense. However, failure to complete the diversion program would result in a $300 fine and a 90-day driver's license suspension for the first offense and a $600 fine and 180-day license suspension for the second offense. A third offense could result in up to 30 days in jail, a $600 fine or both if diversion was not completed for both the first and second offenses. A person under 16 may have a delinquency petition filed and must be given a chance to participate in the diversion program unless the courts determine otherwise. [continues 1437 words]
WAITSFIELD, Vt. (AP)- Some Vermont farmers want to plant hemp now that the state has a law setting up rules to grow the plant, a cousin of marijuana that's more suitable for making sandals than getting high. But federal law forbids growing hemp without a permit, so farmers could be risking the farm if they decide to grow the plant that the Drug Enforcement Agency basically considers marijuana. Hemp and marijuana share the same species - cannabis sativa - but hemp has a negligible content of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Under federal law, all cannabis plants are marijuana, regardless of THC content. [continues 479 words]
Inside Vermont
