Lawmakers in Vermont have passed legislation to legalize and fund a Burlington facility where people could use currently prohibited substances in a medically supervised environment\u2014part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the state\u2019s ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott (R), who vetoed an earlier 2022 measure that would have created a task force to study such sites.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives signed off on Senate-made changes to the bill, H.72, in a voice vote on Tuesday. The Senate approved the measure after making the changes last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n House lawmakers approved a previous version of the bill in January, as Rep. Theresa Wood (D) reminded colleagues ahead of Tuesday\u2019s floor vote.<\/p>\n \u201cMembers may have forgotten about this bill,\u201d she joked. \u201cIt was one of the very first ones we passed back in January.\u201d<\/p>\n If enacted, the legislation would create an overdose prevention centers (OPC) Burlington, with $1.1 million set aside in funding plus another $300,000 to study the study the impact of the pilot project. The OPC would need to have on-site professionals with training in CPR, overdose interventions, first aid and wound care, as well as medical assessments to determine the need for further emergency care.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Vermont Department of Health has a public health campaign that tells all people with substance use disorder to never use alone, because doing so can be extremely dangerous,\u201d Wood told House colleagues. \u201cBetween 2012 and 2023, there were over 1,500 Vermonters that died. The vast majority of them did not have a bystander. This is a shocking loss of lives\u2014lives that were our friends, our family members, our community members and so many Vermonters, all of whom deserved a chance to live and heal.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond establishing a site where people could use drugs in a medically supervised setting, the bill also now includes a Senate-added requirement that the facility provide drug-checking services, and it includes language on criminal immunity for OPC staff, property holders and others to ensure they aren\u2019t subject to arrest or prosecution as the result of good-faith overdose prevention efforts.<\/p>\n If it becomes law, Vermont would join\u00a0Rhode Island<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Minnesota<\/a> in authorizing the facilities.<\/p>\n\n Sponsored by Rep. Taylor Small (P\/D) and 28 House colleagues, the bill is another attempt by lawmakers to allow overdose prevention centers following Scott\u2019s veto of a 2022 measure that would have established a task force to create a plan to open the sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the governor said he\u2019s still skeptical of this session\u2019s proposal. \u201cI just don\u2019t think that a government entity should be in the business of enabling those who are addicted to these drugs that are illegal,\u201d he said in January, as the measure passed out of the House in its earlier form.<\/p>\n Scott wrote in his 2022 veto message on the earlier legislation that \u201cit seems counterintuitive to divert resources from proven harm reduction strategies to plan injection sites without clear data on the effectiveness of this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Some who opposed the bill during Tuesday\u2019s House session said they felt it was premature, as the sites are not federally approved.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this site does get established in Burlington, you can be assured that I may be the first one going on up there saying, \u2018How can I help?’\u201d said Rep. Eric McGuire, a program manager at a family services center in Rutland who provides volunteer ministerial services at the Vermont Department of Corrections. \u201cBut this is not a proven practice at this time in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe in cutting edge approaches to harm reduction as a practitioner in our field,\u201d McGuire said, but he added that \u201cwe have an obligation and a duty as practitioners to follow the models as outlined, whether it\u2019s the ethical standards and the moral standards,\u201d arguing that OPCs have not been recognized by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n \u201cMy fear is this is going to result in unintended consequences that could damage anything moving any further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rep. Casey Toof (R) said he agreed with McGuire\u2019s criticism but also opposed using money from the state\u2019s opioid settlement fund to pay for a single site in Burlington.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just looking at the $1.1 million that we\u2019re going to allocate to one municipality that the rest of the state\u2019s gonna have to pick up and pay for,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see my constituents using the services that are provided in these injection booths.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a pilot project,\u201d responded Wood. \u201cI want to point out that this is a pilot project, very much for us to learn from this experience. And the city of Burlington is equipped\u2014and has requested, frankly, the ability to be a pilot project for this.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the experiment could \u201cassist in saving lives in the city of Burlington and assist our state in understanding better what this could mean for harm reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n Today’s press conference was powerful with so many voices in support of #OPCs<\/a>. <\/p>\n And, today bill H.72 officially passed the #VT<\/a> legislature! #vtpoli<\/a><\/p>\n It’s time for OPCs in VT. Tell Gov. Scott to sign the bill: https:\/\/t.co\/SV2H3t40wK<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vbBszgcuvQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Decriminalize Vermont (@DecrimVermont) May 7, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n As passed by the House earlier this year, the legislation<\/a> would have instead created two overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in undeclared parts of the state, with $2 million set aside in funding for the facilities. A broad amendment\u00a0adopted in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee last month<\/a>, however, narrowed the pilot program to a single site in the city of Burlington, where officials have expressed interest in hosting a facility.<\/p>\n In addition to endorsements from the current and former mayors of Burlington itself, the proposal has support from advocacy groups including the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, National Harm Reduction Coalition, the American Diabetes Association, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Johnson Health Center, Broken No More, Recovery Vermont and the Vermont Association for Mental Health Addiction and Recovery.<\/p>\n Separately on Tuesday, a Vermont\u2019s Senate committee endorsed a small change to a measure that would establish a working group to study whether and how to allow therapeutic access to psychedelics<\/a>, a proposal that next heads to the chamber floor. If that bill becomes law, a report from the working group would be due to the legislature in November with recommendations on how to regulate the substances.<\/p>\n The change approved in committee would direct the Vermont Psychological Association to collaborate with the state Department of Health to help staff and provide technical assistance to body.<\/p>\n As originally introduced, that bill, S.114, would have also legalized use and possession of psilocybin<\/a>, but lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee nixed that section to focus instead on the working group.<\/p>\n Though Rhode Island and Minnesota have state laws on the books allowing safe drug consumption sites, New York City became the first U.S. jurisdiction to\u00a0open locally sanctioned harm reduction centers<\/a>\u00a0in November 2021, and officials have reported positive results saving lives.<\/p>\n An early study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that the\u00a0facilities had decreased the risk of overdose<\/a>, steered people away from using drugs in public and provided other ancillary health services to people who use illicit substances. And separate research published by AMA late last year found that the centers\u00a0have not led to increased crime despite a significant decrease in arrests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile the federal government has\u00a0fought an effort to open an overdose prevention center in Philadelphia<\/a>, with the Biden administration arguing that the facilities violate federal law. Last month, the court in that case\u00a0granted the Justice Department\u2019s motion to dismiss a challenge from organizers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court\u00a0rejected a request to that hear that case<\/a>\u00a0in October 2021.<\/p>\n DOJ first blocked the Philadelphia nonprofit from opening the overdose prevention center under the Trump administration. Supporters hoped the department would cede the issue under President Joe Biden, who has promoted harm reduction policies as an alternative to criminalization, but the parties could not reach an agreement to allow the facility to open despite months of \u201cgood faith\u201d negotiations.<\/p>\n Congressional researchers have highlighted\u00a0the \u201cuncertainty\u201d of the federal government\u2019s position<\/a>\u00a0on such facilities, pointing out last November that lawmakers could temporarily resolve the issue by advancing an amendment modeled after the one that has allowed medical marijuana laws to be implemented without Justice Department interference.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has\u00a0tacitly endorsed the idea of authorizing safe consumption sites<\/a>, arguing that evidence has effectively demonstrated that the facilities can prevent overdose deaths.<\/p>\n Volkow declined to say specifically what she believes should happen with the ongoing lawsuit, but she said safe consumption sites that have been the subject of research \u201chave shown that it has saved a significant [percentage of] patients from overdosing.\u201d<\/p>\n Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, has said the Biden administration is\u00a0reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals<\/a>, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites, and he went so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.<\/p>\n The National Institutes of Health (NIH)\u00a0put out a pair of requests for applications<\/a>\u00a0in December 2021 to investigate how safe consumption sites and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.<\/p>\n Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has said it\u2019s critical to explore \u201cany and every option\u201d to reduce overdose deaths, which\u00a0could include allowing safe consumption sites<\/a>\u00a0for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.<\/p>\n Democratic Congressman Lays Out New Marijuana Agenda To Reflect Renewed \u2018Optimism\u2019 Amid Rescheduling Move<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Vermont Lawmakers Send Bill To Legalize And Fund Safe Drug Consumption Site To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers in Vermont have passed legislation to legalize and fund a Burlington facility where people could use currently prohibited substances in a medically supervised environment\u2014part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the state\u2019s ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Phil ScottContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75107,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75106\/revisions\/75107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Vermont Lawmakers Send Bill To Legalize And Fund Safe Drug Consumption Site To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"