Quote:
Originally Posted by Hancle704
A lifelong Vermont friend also tells me that the state has changed because of folks who have left high tax states like Mass. and NY and soon after they arrive in VT, they start demanding the same things that drove up taxes in their former states and then there is the matter of drug abuse which is a real issue. That might explain why Vermont has elected the kinds of politicians that now represent the State in Congress and the Statehouse. Apart from that, it is pretty with lots of winter activities if that's what you enjoy.
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Your friend is correct. When we arrived 45 years ago, Vermont was a Republican state & very very ultra conservative.....in some ways backward compared to New Jersey, our home state, or Florida which was & still is our favorite vacation state.
Huge sea change in whom gets elected now.....entire towns have changed their representation.......just as you mention above.
I wasn't going to respond to some of the other posts as it really wouldn't sink in unless someone has ever actually lived in Vermont through the four seasons.......thus enjoying its beauty, simple existence, nature, gorgeous views, etc. YES IT IS COLD.
However........our state is making progress (see below); our drug task force wants to keep our way of life for their own children, the life they remember, the life our own children enjoyed.......
To anyone who thinks that Vermont has gone to "hell in a handbasket" please take the time to read below......thanks.
What Vermont has done to fight heroin, opiate abuse
By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press January 21, 2015
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Key facts in the year since Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin made the fight against heroin and opiate abuse the centerpiece of his State of the State address:
NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN TREATMENT:
More than 2,517 people were in treatment at the end of November 2014, up from 1,482 a year ago. The Howard Center/Chittenden Clinic, which has had the most demand, is treating 950 clients, up from 722 in the first week in January 2014.
WAITING LISTS FOR TREATMENT:
The waiting list for placement is 523, with the most — 276 — waiting for treatment at the Howard Center in Burlington. The average wait time for the Howard Center's Chittenden Clinic dropped to 146 days by November 2014, down from 436 days in May of last year. The Howard Center/Chittenden Clinic has about 220 on the active waiting list compared to about 820 people in December of 2013.
OVERDOSE DEATHS FROM HEROIN OR PRESCRIPTION OPIOIDS:
The full data for the year is not available yet. For the first three-quarters of 2014, there were 53 deaths compared to 72 in all of 2013. That number had climbed from single digits over the previous decade.
OVERDOSE ANTIDOTE:
An estimated 100 lives have been saved from Narcan, an anti-overdose drug that can be administered by first-responders.
FIGHTING OPIATES-COST:
$5.2 million in fiscal year 2014; $13.2 million for fiscal year 2015.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/11/22/how-and-how-much-the-50-states-do-drugs-in-4-maps
These maps / statistics are over one year old......from November 2013, however, still interesting. Please keep scrolling down for all of the various maps & drugs, including alchohol..........on hyperlink above.
It depends on the population of the state........the lower the population, the druggies would seem to be higher......also, as far as Vermont, which was always perceived to be a bucolic, lovely, picturesque getaway for many in the highly charged , high powered city metro areas........it came as a shock.......just as it did to those of us who have lived here for 45 years (or all of their lives).........
Society in general has changed, as has Vermont. However, it is still the safest state.
When we first moved up to Vermont in 1970........we had company every single weekend from New Jersey / New York area. They couldn't get enough of it. That trend continued on for decades, etc., etc.
It still remains a beautiful pastoral green state with gorgeous mountains, deep cool forests, pretty countryside seen from winding country roads...........but watch out for those drug dealers (who should be easy to spot with their oversized baseball hats, their huge diamond stud earrings, their massive gold chains & their tats..........they all stand out like a sore thumb.......not the stereotypical Vermonter, that's for sure.............plus best of all, our drug task force is on to them.........arresting them, sending them off to prison.
We feel sorry for the addicts who were hooked by these dealers from "away", but hopefully, some progress will be made..................I certainly do NOT condone drug use.
Lots of folks got addicted after initially being prescribed PAIN PILLS by their own physicians; then when the doctors suggested "going off"........they found other ways.....to ease their "pain".
Vermont's problem with out of state drug dealers from metro areas to our south:
BURLINGTON, Vt. - The two men from Brooklyn, New York entered the federal courtroom in Burlington, Vt., one afternoon last spring wearing handcuffs and accompanied by federal marshals.
In quick order, Thomas Parker, 35, and Tyshawn Mack, 39, pleaded not guilty to heroin trafficking conspiracy charges and were escorted to jail, where they likely will remain until their cases are resolved.
Parker and Mack were following a path well worn over the past year by individuals suspected of peddling heroin in Vermont.
In the past 15 months, Vermont has been on a mission to quell a growing heroin addiction problem in the state.
The effort has involved busting up drug rings importing heroin to the state, vastly expanding opiate addiction treatment programs with collaboration of treatment hubs and local doctors and arming cops and ambulance workers with a drug that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose.
In January, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State message to the Legislature to the heroin problem and what to do about it.
"In every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug addiction threatens us," Shumlin told the lawmakers. "It requires all of us to take action before the quality of life that we cherish so much is compromised."
Shumlin won praise for his speech, but heroin remains a dark cloud hanging over the state's pristine environment and New England charm.
By raw statistics, the results of Vermont's first-year efforts are mixed.
Many, like Parker and Mack, are from elsewhere and suspected of bringing heroin into Vermont from places like New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
"We're working hard to limit supply," Coffin says of the sale of heroin. "The problem is, as long as there is demand, there are people out there trying to fulfill it."
Vermont is a particularly attractive market for heroin traffickers. A bag of heroin costs $6 in New York City. In Vermont, the same bag can go for up to $30.
The state's new "hub-and-spokes" treatment program, a network of regional centers and local doctors providing medication-assisted care for recovering addicts, opened a new regional center in hard-hit Rutland and upgraded three other "hubs." The system has helped reduce the statewide waiting list for treatment, once well over 900, to 630 this spring.
Meanwhile, the impact of Shumlin's blunt speech about the state's heroin problem continues to be felt inside the state and beyond.
Reporters from as disparate media outlets as Rolling Stone and the Australian Broadcasting Corp. have weighed in on Vermont's heroin problem.
In its April edition, Rolling Stone magazine published a story accompanied by a picture of Vermont's iconic maple syrup can with its iconic wintry drawing altered to show a sugarmaker sitting on a tree stump injecting heroin into his arm.
Shumlin, in a statement, called the image "disappointing and hurtful."