[Targo]

About the most dangerous thing in VT most people have to actually worry about is a porcupine. They're so slow new comers to VT step on them all the time.

[delmioquartiere]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Heroin is coming from out of state for all states. They're not growing poppy fields in America.

The problem unique to Vermont is it has a greater percentage of users than most other states.

This from a person that repeatedly post our population statistics at 600,000 and thinks her home state can't compare to the heroin use in VT.

I'd be willing to bet there is easily a greater number of users in your home state as the population is so much greater. So basically 12 million more people than VT.

VT as has been pointed out a zillion times on this forum wins lots of number one spots on the per capita scale.

12.76 million (2012)
Pennsylvania, Population

Edit- oh look you even have a much worse problem in your state.
https://www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...ar-heroin.html

[delmioquartiere]

Originally Posted by Targo

About the most dangerous thing in VT most people have to actually worry about is a porcupine. They're so slow new comers to VT step on them all the time.

^^^^^^^^ This- sorry they won't let me rep you.

[68vette]

Drugs are a problem everywhere. People who ignore or deny that fact are the ones who help the problem spread. I agree with Vter, the Governor did the right thing acknowledging the problem and attempting to take the problem head on. I don't think he should have spent the entire State of the State Address talking about it, but he is taking a step in the right direction. The facts are there, if we as a state think the problem is always worse somewhere else, then not much is done to correct the issue. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration conducted a survey in 2010-2011. Vermont ranked highest in the country with 15.29% of the population admitting to using drugs (age 12 and older) from marijuana to cocaine. Granted, most don't think marijuana is a problem drug, but when you also look at drug addiction, which should exclude marijuana because it's not an addicting drug like cocaine or heroin. Vermont was ranked highest with people who were addicted to drugs as well as people 12 and older who use cocaine.
We have a problem and I commend the Governor for taking the right steps. This doesn't only effect those that are users. They property crime, etc. has a lasting effect on innocent victims. Targo, I am not in any way making light of your statement, but I don't think the homeowner or gas station attendant with a gun in their face thinks a porcupine is their worst problem. Having been an inocent victim of a drug related crime, I can't express in words how violated I and my family felt and continue to feel. This is a subject I take to heart and no one can now convince me otherwise.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by delmioquartiere

This from a person that repeatedly post our population statistics at 600,000 and thinks her home state can't compare to the heroin use in VT.

I'd be willing to bet there is easily a greater number of users in your home state as the population is so much greater. So basically 12 million more people than VT.

VT as has been pointed out a zillion times on this forum wins lots of number one spots on the per capita scale.

12.76 million (2012)
Pennsylvania, Population

I'm confident the OP and others have a better grasp than you of what a greater percentage means in a small population for this issue.

[delmioquartiere]

Pa. Ranked 14th In Number Of Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths


Users start with prescription drugs and move on to the much cheaper Heroin.

The Washington-based Trust for America’s Health said in a report Monday that the state had 15.3 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in 2010, most involving prescription drugs.
That’s an increase of 89 percent from 1999, when there were 8.1 drug deaths per 100,000 people.



Pa. Ranked 14th In Number Of Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths « CBS Philly

[Soup Nazi]

I think it's the same problem I have seen all my life in poorer neighborhoods. I grew up in the 50's and 60's, in a harrowing neighborhood in NYC, when NYC was at it's worst. Crime, corruption, dirty, dangerous, and more. We moved to Long Island for my school years, and it was a very different world. No people shooting up in the doorways, that kind of thing. I must have been six years old when we moved there.

Fast forward to when I am 18, and my parents high-tail it back to the city and I go with them. That was when I first saw heroin, but it wasn't in our home, or in our building, but it wasn't far away and it doesn't take long to figure out where those places are.

It's the same where my house is in Windsor, VT. Very poor, lots of rentals - many poorly maintained - and there are drug busts all over here, much more than six or seven years ago. Lots of minor burglaries, car break-ins, etc. My particular neighborhood was mostly elderly folks who had raised their families and retired here in 2006; now it's gone over to 50 or 60% rental housing (single-family homes.) The maintenance level of the houses has declined, and there are more police visits. The recession really hit this area hard and the poverty goes with the drug abuse. Heroin use has always been more apparent to me in low-income towns with high unemployment, and high underemployment.

I have a friend across the river in Cornish, NH. Her boys went to Windsor High and both became junkies, and are to this day, in and out of rehab, never even finished high school, and that was back in the late 90's and early 2000's here. My son went to Lebanon High, then VTC, then UVM, and he says he never encountered it much but then, my biggest break in life, my son was never interested in drugs. He got through those danger years and I am thankful for that. It was nothing I did, and I don't think any of us can be smug enough to think it was our good parenting that won the day. Rather, we were lucky. I have friends on Long Island that also have heroin and meth-addicted early 20's kids, it's just everywhere and there but for the grace of Lady Luck goes all of us.

I am glad they are admitting the problem is bad. The percentage of addicts for our population is without a doubt cause for alarm, but also cause for action.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by delmioquartiere

Pa. Ranked 14th In Number Of Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths


Users start with prescription drugs and move on to the much cheaper Heroin.

The Washington-based Trust for America’s Health said in a report Monday that the state had 15.3 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in 2010, most involving prescription drugs.
That’s an increase of 89 percent from 1999, when there were 8.1 drug deaths per 100,000 people.



Pa. Ranked 14th In Number Of Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths « CBS Philly

No matter how hard you try to shift the discussion to PA, you can't change the fact that Vermont ranks 2nd in the nation only to Maine for prescription drug abuse with 131 per 100,000 people seeking treatment for addiction to prescription drugs in Vermont.

I'm sorry this is difficult for you to accept.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/01/0...on-drug-abuse/

[harpoonalt]

It's here. The reason the governor has made it a priority is the rapid growth of use and addiction. This isn't just a VT problem. We thought we were immune from it here and we thought wrong. It's growing at a worrisome rate. But if YOU think it can't happen to your town or state, think again.
You just have to look in the papers to see the increase in crime that goes along with it. The scary part of heroin is the lengths addicts will go to in the quest for the money they need to satisfy their habit. And while plenty of Vermonters are dealing, the main supply line is from the bigger cities out of state and comes from some very organized groups. They came in and befriended people with the intent of creating a market. Once the demand was created, it was easy to recruit people to help them as they needed a way to feed their habit. Once their network is in place, they don't even need to be here unless someone gets out of line or they need to put a scare into someone.
And treatment isn't successful at a very high rate. Most addicts require several rehab stints before they get clean. Many never will.
Our Governor is concerned as we all should be. Vermont is a very safe state. Less safe as the drug problem grows. However, the problem is everywhere these days. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it 's not there. And it appears worse here because the drugs stand out from the relatively low rate of other crimes. So yes, heroin is here. But it's where you live too.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by harpoonalt

...the main supply line is from the bigger cities out of state and comes from some very organized groups. They came in and befriended people with the intent of creating a market. Once the demand was created, it was easy to recruit people to help them as they needed a way to feed their habit. Once their network is in place, they don't even need to be here unless someone gets out of line or they need to put a scare into someone.

That's how it happens in every single state in the country. Vermont isn't unique in that regard. Heroin isn't produced in big cities. Heroin isn't produced anywhere America. It all comes to every state from somewhere else via creating networks just like how it was done in Vermont. The bad guys in the big cities aren't doing this to Vermont. The greater percentage of population willing to be buyers and addicts are doing this to Vermont.

Originally Posted by harpoonalt

Our Governor is concerned as we all should be. Vermont is a very safe state. Less safe as the drug problem grows. However, the problem is everywhere these days. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it 's not there. And it appears worse here because the drugs stand out from the relatively low rate of other crimes. So yes, heroin is here. But it's where you live too.

It's not standing out because of the relatively low rate of other crimes. It's standing out because your population is small. I'm not saying it isn't everywhere. I'm saying that it's a bigger problem when a larger percentage is addicted in a small population. You don't have enough of a larger population to offset what they're doing. This is one reason why rural areas in every state have a drug problem. Vermont being almost entirely rural without a large metro to offset the statistics causes Vermont's percentages to be higher. In other words, drugs are more like a big fish in a small pond in Vermont.

big fish in a small pond
one of the most [influential] people in a small group or organization, who would have much less power and importance if they were part of a larger group or organization

a big fish in a small pond - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.