3 ways Vermont offers hope

Many of the Chief's recommendations are applied in Burlington and throughout Vermont.

Here are some of these initiatives:

Expand access to drug-assisted treatment

Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo spoke about the shooting of Ralph Grenon by a Burlington police officer on the evening of Tuesday, at a press conference in Burlington on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL)

Buprenorphine, also known as the Suboxone brand, is expected to be available to all who need it, "said Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, who swore in his third term last spring.

Since then, the city's needle exchange center has launched a program for this purpose. The Howard Center's Safe Recovery Center received a $ 525,000 federal grant to fund same-day treatment, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

This summer, the University of Vermont Medical Center began offering buprenorphine in its emergency department to patients who have overdosed.

A state law expanding access to medication-assisted treatment in Vermont prisons came into effect on July 1. Under the new law, inmates with opioid use disorder are entitled to treatment when a clinician states that the treatment is medically necessary.

According to a complaint filed by the Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform advocacy group, the Department of Prison Services did not meet the new requirements.

More: Vermont obituary tells the story of opioid control. Here is where to find a treatment.

Keep syringe exchanges open longer

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Used needles collected as part of the Howard Center Safe Recovery Support and Education Program were seen in Burlington on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL / FREE PRESS)

Safe Recovery, the needle exchange in Burlington, has enabled 228 clients to undergo treatment in 2017.

It also distributed 691,304 clean needles and disposed of 294,368 used needles last year.

Safe Recovery has also administered nearly 20,000 doses of naloxone in the last five years, resulting in more than 1,000 overdose rollovers.

According to Daniel Daltry, who runs the Ministry of Health's HIV, AIDS, STD and Hepatitis programs, people who use needle exchange services are five times more likely to receive treatment and three times more risk. to stop injecting drugs.

There are seven other needle exchange sites in the state, but none is open as many hours as Safe Recovery: the Burlington program is open 35 hours a week, the others ranging from 2 to 8 hours a week.

State officials plan to strengthen and expand access to needle exchanges. The Social Services Agency plans to propose the use of a $ 1 million state tobacco settlement fund in January.

Limit the prescriptions of analgesics

The Vermont rules governing how doctors prescribe opioid pain relievers came into effect on July 1, 2017.

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Bottles of OxyContin, a prescription pain reliever. (Photo: free press kit)

The rules limit the number of pills that a doctor can prescribe to a patient. They also require doctors to discuss drug-related risks with their patients, treatment alternatives, and give some patients naloxone, an overdose medicine.

About six months later, a report by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont indicated a significant decrease in the number of prescriptions in progress. Insurance managers attributed the new prescription guidelines as one of the factors contributing to the decline.

More: Over the past few months, Shumlin has reduced its reliance on opiates

The state health department used data from the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System to show a decrease in the number of prescriptions and strength of the prescribed pills.

Some doctors have pushed the boundaries, calling them unrealistic and disconnected from the needs of patients.