A proposal to create a sanctioned space in Burlington where heroin users can inject drugs safely does not have the support of the city's police chief.
A commission that Chief Brandon del Pozo served on looked into the concept of a secure injection facility and came out in support of the idea. But the chief says he wants to focus on other ways of addressing the opioid epidemic in Vermont.
"It's a very compassionate thing to establish a safe injection site and it does send a message that we want to de-stigmatize it," del Pozo toldVermont Edition. But he would like to see more efforts put into treatment and recovery models, like Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in prisons before any funding goes to what he says is a divisive idea. "I worry that they just don't, in practice, capture enough risk to justify the cost versus other things the government can do to help."
A bill that would have provided legal indemnity for staff and medical professionals operating and working in this kind of facility has stalled in the Senate Judiciary committee.
Chittenden County States Attorney Sarah George led the commission recommending the establishment of a safe injection facility in Burlington. But without the support of the police chief, George says she won't move forward.
"You heard the chief's position," she says. "So my guess is that isn't going to happen right now. But it isn't something I'm going to give up on, either."
