[68vette]

Originally Posted by GregW

Legalize all of the drugs and the problem, with meth at least, will go away as the addicts die off. Marijuana and opiate users can function fairly well, like most alcohol addicts, and live OK during the addiction. Seems to me the alcoholics are worse off than the opium eaters.

if you value personal freedom you should allow people to screw themselves over. Unless you are the addict it is none of your concern.

Unfortunately, In this state they don't just screw themselves over. They'll end up collecting or getting something subsidized that the hard working class end up paying for.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by FrugalYankee

Greg come on. If they want to sit at home with their eyes glazed over I couldnt care less. They are commiting armed robbery at drug stores and stealing things out of cars to feed their habits. And I get that there is a valid comparison between alcoholism and being a junkie. An addiction is an addiction. But the way things are, alcohol is legal, heroin is not, oxycontin is regulated. And the latter two are sufficiently expensive that you have to be rich to feed the habit without commiting a crime of some sort to get the cash.

Oxy, while regulated is not without crime.
Accused pharmacy killer David Laffer did this because 'I was sick,' wife Melinda Brady says - NY Daily News
A very close friend is a pharmacist and has had a gun pulled on him, was pistol whipped. The thing they were most afraid of? Repeat crime if their report had made it it into the newspapers -- it would have been informing junkies that they stocked Oxy.

I think anyone who goes about believing that all's well in VT is themselves. tripping.

After the bust in Chester, I finally realized why the local PD would follow my car when I was in town: I have a trikked out black SUV with NY tags. It is good to know they were on top of things.

There was a huge drug bust a week ago in Springfield. A large number of local people were arrested -- either from VT or from NJ. My concern is that the NJ end are more Bloods -- like the ones arrested in April this year. Drugs getting moved around are bad; gangs moving in are far worse.

[western mass and love it]

I read all the time in the paper about people from VT getting busted down in Mass for buying heroin. Oxy's are expensive and hard to get while heroin is cheap and easily obtained. And usually the people getting busted are teenagers or people in their early 20's. So yes the drugs do come up to Vermont but plenty of Vermonters travel south or west to get their fix also.

[Cthulhuu]

I actually agree with GregW. Give them a way to get what they want, sell it and make money for the govt instead of for the drug underground. Give them a reason to work and be part of society. It costs more to pay for prison for them. But, something like meth or crack should stay illegal. Anything that is harmful to the brain like that, should be illegal. I know people who destroyed their brains with drugs to the point, they can't work and then we just support them anyway.

[harpoonalt]

Dealers are businessmen like the guys in 3 piece suits. They have sales forces, marketing and distribution and compete with other dealers. They move into untapped markets, create a demand and once that ball is rolling just meet the demand. It's not any one town or states problem but our countries problem. If you think your town has no problem, you either don't know about it or it isn't a big enough market yet.
No one is immune and if you think you are, you're very naive.
If you're a law abiding citizen with decent friends you only see things in your town or state from that perspective. Spend some time talking to your local law enforcement and many of you would be shocked to find what really goes on in your towns and cities. I don't know the answers but somehow we All need to fix this. It's everyones problem.

[OhBeeHave]

http://enfield.patch.com/groups/poli...share_facebook

I just read the article and was flabbergasted by the low bail set by the court. Two adult VT men from Springfield and Chester picked up a huge amount of Heroin around the Bradley Airport area in CT. Thank goodness they stopped for McDonald's.

I appreciate the Chester Telegraph for sharing this story it found on the Enfield Patch.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[MTK1]

New Drug Surfaces in Rutland, Causing Overdoses - Combination of Heroin, Ecstasy, Meth and Cocaine



Six overdoses, in 12 hours - in one city. There’s a brand new drug on the streets, and it could be spreading across the state. It’s a capsule with a mix of drugs inside, creating a potentially lethal combination. It's coming in from out of state - and right now, it's just in Rutland, but police say it's something they've never seen before.


http://www.fox44abc22yourvoice.com/story/new-drug-surfaces-in-rutland-causing-overdoses-combination-of-heroin-ecstasy-meth-and-cocaine/d/story/86eOq4N9tUe4IA9ZNkdOrg

[looking4home]

So it sounds like Vermont has become Iowa (or Kentucky) with better scenery.

[thunderkat59]

Originally Posted by looking4home

So it sounds like Vermont has become Iowa (or Kentucky) with better scenery.

Rutland has been that way for years.

[Cthulhuu]

I saw a tv show about Brianna Maitland, she was living north western Vermont and she disappeared due to drugs. The show is called Disappeared. They speculated she owed drug dealers money so they made her go away. It is an interesting case.