Credit: Sean Metcalf

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George is throwing her weight behind an effort to create supervised injection facilities for street drug users.

“I am confident this will save people’s lives,” George said, during an interview Monday ahead of a public announcement Wednesday morning. “That’s good enough for me.”

These facilities, George suggested, will help Vermont address its opioid epidemic, which caused an unprecedented number of overdose fatalities in the state last year.

Safe injection facilities provide users with clean needles and medical supervision. Users arrive with their own drugs, without risking arrest.

The endorsement from Chittenden County’s top prosecutor could help galvanize a legislative effort to establish such facilities in Vermont. Lawmakers introduced bills in both the House and Senate last January, but the legislation languished.

 George said she was initially skeptical when a deputy told her about the concept last February. “I had never heard of them before, [and] frankly, I was pretty turned off by the idea,” George recalled.

Despite her qualms, the new state’s attorney assembled a commission of medical professionals, law enforcement and other stakeholders to study the idea. Following the commission’s recommendation, George said she believes the state should legalize safe injection sites.

What changed her mind? George said that the commission presented her with an “overwhelming amount of research” demonstrating that these facilities reduce overdose deaths and needle-related infections; encourage users to seek treatment; and reduce public drug use. Studies have also refuted concerns that the facilities encourage drug use and increase crime.

At least 85 safe injection sites exist worldwide, according to the commission’s report. A number of U.S. cities, including Seattle, Ithaca, and San Francisco are working to establish safe injection sites, although some of these proposals have encountered pushback.

To address concerns about drug users driving away from a facility while under the influence, George wants medical screenings for all visitors before they depart.

If legislation passes, the Howard Center’s syringe exchange, Safe Recovery, would likely host an injection facility for Chittenden County, George said.

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Alicia Freese was a Seven Days staff writer from 2014 through 2018.

9 replies on “Chittenden State’s Attorney Calls for Safe Injection Sites”

  2. So, in other words, it’s ok to “shoot up” as long you bring your own drugs and do it at a Safe injection facility .. This doesn’t address its opioid epidemic, More research needs to be done…

  3. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/opioid-addiction-is-a-huge-problem-but-pain-prescriptions-are-not-the-cause/
    Opioid Addiction Is a Huge Problem, but Pain Prescriptions Are Not the Cause

    “But the simple reality is this: According to the large, annually repeated and representative National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 75 percent of all opioid misuse starts with people using medication that wasnt prescribed for themobtained from a friend, family member or dealer. “

  5. I have much better idea Ms. Geroge: let’s have a pilot project that supports addicts having medically supervised drug with drawl. Once functional, addicts must receive mandatory drug counseling if they are on the taxpayer funded payroll.

  6. I have a much different and I believe, much better idea Ms. George et al: let’s have a pilot project whereby a pool of addicts, maybe 50, volunteer to have medically well-supervised WITHDRAWL from their drugs. Once stabilized, addicts attend mandatory drug-counseling for some pre-determined stretch of time to give people a new start on life which would include job training or volunteering or both. I think it’s still called putting some skin in the game. My approach ought to leave an indelible impression on addicts of the horrors of drug abuse as they’ll being present to experience first-hand the agony of drug withdrawl. The coddling, soft-landing, warm & fuzzy approach perpetuates drug dependency. The victim mentality is one of the main drivers of the opioid epidemic. Tough love. Let’s try that.

  7. Helloooo.. its’ all ILLEGAL! What part of this doesn’t register? No tolerance for alcoholics/DUIs for their bad behavior but want to allow this? Hypocritical at best. How about putting these suggested funds into a decently run rehab center TO GET CLEAN. No subox for secondary dependency, etc. Get it done, and do it right! Geez.

  8. Ms. George is to be commended for looking at the evidence and letting that, rather than her “gut reaction” guide her decision. An excellent example of Daniel Kahnemann’s distinction between “thinking fast and thinking slow”. Would that more of us would follow her example!

  9. Donna Boutin – you said more research needs to be done. What are your thoughts on the research that has been conducted so far? Did you read the study that was posted the same day this article was published?

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