Rally at Burlington City Hall Park Honors Those Lost to Overdoses

Photos of people who died from overdoses Credit: Hannah Feuer ©️ Seven Days

About 70 people gathered at Burlington’s City Hall Park on Thursday to memorialize loved ones lost to substance use and advocate for policy changes in honor of International Opioid Overdose Awareness Day.

Team Sharing, a group of local parents who have lost children to overdoses, organized the event, which featured speakers with personal connections to the opioid crisis, activists and politicians.

Kim Blake, a leader of the group, opened the event by reading a poem written by her son Sean, who died of an overdose in 2017, at age 27. A friend found his body after he collapsed in the shower.

“I’d love it if there wasn’t judgment for parents who’ve lost kids to substance use,” Blake said. “If there was one big ask, that would be it.”

Forty-three pictures of smiling young adults who died after overdosing lined the lawn outside city hall. Attendees carried signs reading “No more drug war,” “Health crises need health solutions” and “Overdose prevention centers save lives.”

Abby Sperry and Nancy Towle Credit: Hannah Feuer ©️ Seven Days

Burlington resident Nancy Towle came wearing a shirt with a picture of her late son’s face on top of a cloudy sky. Abby Sperry pulled a picture frame out of her purse with a photo of her leaning against her daughter, Sasha Torrens-Sperry, a pianist who died of an overdose at age 29.

Opioid fatalities have increased since Team Sharing’s inaugural event in Montpelier last year. The Vermont Department of Health recorded 95 fatal opioid overdoses through May of this year, about 20 percent higher than the three-year average over the same time period. Much of it has coincided with an increase of fentanyl in the drug supply.

In Burlington, the number of overdoses has more than doubled: Through August 15, police had responded to 288 overdoses compared to 121 over the same time period last year.

There are some glimmers of hope. Vermont decriminalized the possession of the opioid-addiction treatment drug buprenorphine in 2021, and the opioid-overdose reversal drug Narcan is now available over the counter in some pharmacies, no prescription needed.

At the Johnson Health Center on Thursday, officials unveiled the state’s first Narcan vending machine, which will provide access for free, 24-7.

“We can all play a role in preventing overdose, from understanding risk factors … to knowing the signs and responding … to reducing stigma in our communities,” Health Commissioner Mark Levine said at the event, according to prepared remarks provided by the department.

Back in Burlington, multiple speakers, including Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (P/D-Chittenden-Central District) and Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George, called for the city to open safe injection sites and decriminalize drugs. Blake compared the city’s current approach to giving a drowning person swimming lessons instead of life preservers.

Mayor Miro Weinberger said the overdose crisis needs to be Vermont’s top public health priority, and he wants the city to “go all in on harm reduction.” But he stopped short of calling for safe injection sites, a policy the Burlington City Council has repeatedly considered without any resolution.

In June 2022, Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill that would have allowed for the study of safe injection sites, and Commissioner Levine has previously expressed doubt that the facilities would work in Vermont due to its rural landscape.

Dakota Roberts spoke about his work as a harm reduction specialist, which involves testing people’s drugs in a lab. The hope is that knowing what is in the drugs will help change how people use them.

“People have been extremely responsive to this,” Roberts said. “[They] feel safer and more at ease knowing there’s somebody there that can tell them why something happened, why this didn’t work, why I felt weird like this, what I can avoid in the future.”

Roberts has his own story of addiction: He said he became inspired to recover and help others after his brother died of an overdose. “It was the final straw to me, where I couldn’t put myself or my mom or sister or family through that again,” Roberts said.

Also in attendance was Kate O’Neill, who wrote a series on the opioid crisis for Seven Days after her sister, Madelyn Linsenmeir, died from complications related to her drug use. O’Neill told the crowd about society’s bias against people who use illicit drugs.

Other speakers included Michael Henry, whose son died of an overdose after developing an addiction that began when he was prescribed opioids for an injury; David Mickenberg, a representative from the Drug Policy Alliance and Decriminalize Vermont; and Jeremy Hulsey, manager of the Burlington Ben & Jerry’s, who said he closed the store’s bathroom to the public after people started using the space to do drugs.

Blake said events such as Thursday’s help show she’s not alone in her grief.

“When you’ve lost a child, people don’t know what to say to you. They feel awkward,” Blake said. “But when you are with somebody who’s been through the same loss, that little layer is gone.”

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