Vermont still struggling against opioid overdoses

"Margie," a recovering addict after using Narcan during an overdose.

BENNINGTON — Thursday was International Opioid Overdose Awareness Day, a worldwide day to remember those we’ve lost to addiction and an important opportunity to spread awareness of the very real struggle that goes on every day here in Vermont, across America, and in every corner of the globe.

“Awareness is critical, " says Margae Diamond, Turning Point Recovery Center executive director in Bennington.

Opioid overdoses affect families and communities, from big cities to small towns. New data just released from the Vermont Department of Health suggests that almost all of Vermont, including Bennington County, still struggles with opioid overdose and deaths.

Data from the state shows a marked increase in fatal opioid-related overdoses. There were 50 overdoses in Vermont in 2012. By 2022, that number was 243. Drugs mixed with traditional opioids, such as heroin with fentanyl, xylazine, and Gabapentin, have become serious concerns for addicts and police. Xylazine alone was involved in over 28 percent of fatal opioid overdoses in 2022, up from 13 percent in 2021. The percentage of fentanyl involvement in opioid-related deaths is now 93 percent. Statistics show people aged 30-34 are the most vulnerable.

The statewide data is reflected in Bennington's number. From January to May 2023, there have been six fatal overdose deaths in Bennington County. That’s 16.1 per 100,00 residents. Windsor County faired much worse. They had the highest rate of overdose deaths in the state, double that of Bennington at 12, over 28 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in that same five-month period.

There are some positive developments on the horizon, however.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $3.3 million in awards to rural communities in Vermont to respond to the overdose risk from fentanyl and other opioids. Rural communities face challenges in providing treatment and recovery services, with geographic isolation and transportation barriers, and limited mental health and substance abuse healthcare workers. The money will go to support a Rural Center of Excellence on Substance Use Disorders to help gather treatment and prevention best practice strategies.

With each overdose, there is more information on how we can prevent deaths from happening. Turning Point Recovery Center in Bennington offers programs, including peer-to-peer coaching for individuals and families struggling with addiction, wellness programs, harm reduction education, and free Narcan kits to keep people safe.

Most overdoses happen accidentally at home in the presence of others. The average response time for emergency services is approximately 10 minutes. Having Narcan readily available in a first-aid kit can help save lives by reversing the effects of opioids while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive — although Narcan does nothing against fentanyl or some other substances.

“We want people to be aware, and we want them to reach out and have and use Narcan,” Diamond says. ”Having Narcan on your person at your home is, I think, very important, whether you believe you know someone who's using drugs or not. It's a safety medication. And the best weapon we have right now."

Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said his officers carry Narcan, also known as Naloxone, and are trained in its usage.

"It seems like officers deploy Naloxone a couple of times per week," he said. "Opiate abuse remains out of control, and we need to focus on treatment programs, as well as holding people accountable that are bringing opiates into our community. ... We need to have compassion when dealing with friends, family and community members struggling with substance abuse disorders."

Kinney Drugs, with 18 locations in Vermont, became one of the first pharmacies in the country to offer Narcan over-the-counter as of Aug. 31.

The fight, however, remains far from over. Just ask any family member or friend of an addict who fatally overdosed about that dreaded late-night knock on the door.

“The police, they came right out with it, that he died an hour earlier,” said Fred Dunn, who lost his son, Brian, 47, to a fatal overdose in 2019. “We thought he was starting to get his life together because he'd always had some bad habits with alcohol and drugs, mostly alcohol. It was quite a shock that early Monday morning when he died. They tried to Narcan him, but it didn't work. We felt kind of helpless. My wife and I had talked about the fact that we probably are going out-live Brian, but when it finally happened, it was just as shocking as if we never spoke about it. There isn’t a minute I still don’t think about him.

“If you have somebody who has a habit, try to get him into rehab, even if you don't have the authority to do it but try and influence them to get their life straightened out before it's too late," he said. "This devastated our whole family. These are real people out there dying. When you look at statistics, you just kind of get washed over by the numbers, but each one of those numbers is a family member, like Brian, you know. It impacts scores of people. Maybe hundreds of people are impacted kind of like a small pebble in a big pond. There's just a huge impact.”

Diamond said opioid use disorder becomes a brain disease.

“Treatment is not just about the withdrawal symptoms, it's also about allowing the brain time to heal, which is tremendously capable of doing, but it takes time," she said. "When someone is in the throes of addiction, it destroys not only the person but their family and friends. And it has a wide-reaching impact when people suffer. This is just something we can’t ignore. It's not something that happens to other people. It's happening to everyone, right here in our community. We just need to be vigilant as a community and everyone needs to believe that this is a community problem and some day, it gets solved by the community, all of us together.”

For help with addiction, call Turning Point Recovery Center at 802-442-9700 or United Counseling Services at 802-442-5491.

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