Vermont Quits War on Drugs to Treat Heroin Abuse as Health Issue

[MachineGhost]

Finally, the nut is beginning to crack.  Screw you, Nixon!

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State address in January to what he called Vermont’s “full-blown heroin crisis.”? Since 2000, he said, the state had seen a 250 percent increase in addicts receiving treatment. The courts were swamped with heroin-related cases. In 2013 the number of people charged with heroin trafficking in federal court in Vermont increased 135 percent from the year before, according to federal records. Shumlin, a Democrat, urged the legislature to approve a new set of drug policies that go beyond the never-ending cat-and-mouse between cops and dealers. Along with a crackdown on traffickers, he proposed rigorous addiction prevention programs in schools and doctors’ offices, as well as more rehabilitation options for addicts. “We must address it as a public health crisis,”? Shumlin said, “providing treatment and support rather than simply doling out punishment, claiming victory, and moving on to our next conviction.”?

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... alth-issue

[Jan Van]

Maybe they can check what was done in the Netherlands where they've been treating heroin users since the early 80s...

[dualstow]

Canada, too.

By the way, Jan, the wiki page for this Vermont governor says his mother was from the Netherlands. Maybe some influence there.

[Kbg]

Or Saudi Arabia where dealers get caught once and only once...

[Ad Orientem]

Or Saudi Arabia where dealers get caught once and only once...

Yep. There's a country we want to look towards as a role model. 

[Ad Orientem]

I would note that both Switzerland and Portugal have abandoned the war on drugs for saner policies with considerable success.

[Libertarian666]

How about just making it easier to get pot legally in Vermont? That has reduced opiate overdoses in the states that have done it.

http://drugabuse.com/legalizing-marijua ... overdoses/

[Jan Van]

By the way, Jan, the wiki page for this Vermont governor says his mother was from the Netherlands. Maybe some influence there.

We are few but we reach far