This commentary is by Ed Baker of Burlington. He has lived experience as a person with drug addiction. He is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers, retired from a career in the substance use field. He is currently an activist for public health in Vermont.
The number one leading cause of death for Vermonters aged 50 and below is accidental drug overdose, according to the Department of Health. We are in the very midst of an undeclared public health emergency that deeply affects every county, town, neighborhood and family in Vermont. Downtown Burlington is the epicenter of this tragedy. We experience common suffering daily.
For calendar year 2023 there were 211 accidental deaths in Vermont, with 176 of these being due to accidental or unknown intent drug overdose, according to the Department of Health. According to State’s Attorney Sarah George, Chittenden County had the highest number of deaths (50) in 2023, with approximately half these deaths concentrated within the downtown Burlington area.
We Vermonters were alerted to this evolving crisis in 2014 by then Gov. Peter Shumlin in his State of the State address, where he warned that “In every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug addiction threatens us.”
In 2016 the crisis began to morph into the beast we see today. Fentanyl, the most powerful opioid available, became the leading contributor to opioid overdose death in Vermont.
This continues to be the case today, with well over 90% of opioid-related fatalities involving fentanyl. Today this is complicated by the addition of xylazine to the unregulated drug supply, an animal tranquilizer causing severe infections of soft tissue.
We collectively face an ever-worsening and increasingly lethal perfect storm. Vermonters often most vulnerable to this near-indescribable travesty are Vermonters with chronically unmet needs, often unhoused, with mental health challenges complicating their addiction. They are very often alienated from the mainstream, outside traditional treatment techniques’ ability to engage them. They are dying.
It is our responsibility, and this is not debatable in my opinion, to protect them, to see to it that they have the very best and most effective means available to them to keep them alive and support their gradual movement toward health.
The quote “when things are at their worst we are at our best” comes to mind.
Available research data at this point unequivocally leads to overdose prevention centers as the next medically necessary best practice available to us. These centers are built upon a theoretical foundation called harm reduction. They are not based upon an abstinence-only model.
They engage people by providing what I’ve come to term “unconditional safety,” a stigma-free, non-punitive meeting of the person “where they are” emotionally, while they are using drugs. We meet them there and move forward with them at their pace, toward progressively less harm to themselves and the community.
We are making progress in this process here in Burlington, which will culminate in our opening an overdose prevention center. This is supported by Act 178, based upon H.72 as passed by the Legislature in 2024.
The city of Burlington has entered into an agreement with Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, the ideal provider for this life-saving service, which will be called the Downtown Health Project.
This arrangement was approved by the unanimous vote of our City Council on April 28 and since has been approved by the Vermont Department of Health. This process will continue, most hopefully at an urgent pace, the most pressing task facing us being the location of a suitable site.
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak’s office is presently fully engaged in a comprehensive process outlined by the Vermont Department of Health in the department’s “Vermont Overdose Prevention Center Operating Guidelines.” Part of these guidelines require community input and City Council approval regarding site selection.
If you are undecided regarding this crucial public health intervention please educate yourself. Here are some resources:
A comprehensive website with current information on OPCs
Vermont Department of Health operating guidelines for the OPC
I am calling upon Burlingtonians to ask their City Council representatives to stand strongly on science and lead with compassion, to approve locating our OPC at a site that is immediately accessible to those most in need, once this site is determined by Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak’s team. This will support the overdose prevention center’s success which will begin to reduce our common suffering.
The science is clear on this, the need is pressing, and the pieces are in place. Without the will of the people nothing will be done and our common suffering will no doubt increase still.
The choice is ours.
