Burglaries in Burlington are up 200 percent so far this year. (Rutland: apartment, crimes)

[MTK1]

Be careful when parking your car in Burlington.

I was a recent victim. Woke up to my car window smashed in my driveway. I had absolutely nothing of value in my car but my window was still smashed.

It used to be if you have a GPS or something similiar in plain site you were asking for your car to be broken into. Not anymore.

From what I have heard around town its all fueled by drug addicts and the Burlington Police even said it themselves.

"They generally target lightweight electronics and sell the items for pennies on the dollar to feed prescription drug addictions."

VT is ranked the highest in the nation for prescription pill abuse.

Burglaries surge in Burlington - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

[MTK1]

This is another thing that VT is going to have to face. Hard drug use on a massive scale as we are leading the nation on hard drug abuse.

Burlington police say they infiltrated a major heroin ring

BURLINGTON, Vt. -
Eugene McNair-- known on the streets as "C"-- limped into a Burlington courtroom Friday. The Brooklyn, N.Y., man is facing heroin trafficking and drug conspiracy charges after leaping from a hotel balcony and running from police.

"This is an extremely troubling case in which a gentleman who has absolutely no ties to the state of Vermont comes up here and is accused of being involved in what is basically a drug conspiracy ring," Chittenden County Deputy State's Attorney Patrick Lamb said.

But Higbee says the Burlington Police Department is definitely seeing greater demand for heroin and these out-of-state drug dealers are taking advantage of the opportunity. They buy the drugs for $5-$7 a bag in larger metropolitan areas, and then come up to Vermont and sell it to addicts for five times that amount.

According to court papers, McNair and his associates are trafficking 1,000 bags of heroin into the city every three to four days.

Burlington police say they infiltrated a major heroin ring - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Heroin needles are a common find around my apartment in Burlington. Pomeroy park is littered with them. There is online forum called the frontporchforum.com where this is a hot topic.

Prescription drug abuse in Vermont 'a problem of epidemic proportions

Prescription drug abuse in Vermont 'a problem of epidemic proportions' | Burlington Free Press | burlingtonfreepress.com

• Prescription opiates in 2010 accounted for more than half the total of fatal drug overdoses in the state — for the sixth consecutive year.

• According to federal Drug Enforcement Administration statistics, Vermont led the nation in 2010 in per-capita consumption of buprenorphine, the drug most often used to treat opiate abuse.

• The state ranks second in the country, behind only Maine, in per-capita admissions for treatment for addiction to prescription opiates. The number of Vermonters seeking treatment for opiate addiction in 2010 was up 21 percent from 2008 and up 300 percent from 2005.

Vermont ranks near top in per-capita drug use

Vermont ranks near top in per-capita drug use: Rutland Herald Online

Not only does Vermont lead the nation in marijuana use, its 18- to 25-year-old residents are among the most likely in the country to have used cocaine or other illicit drugs in the past year, according to a federal report released Thursday.

Data indicates that more than half of Vermonters age 18- to 25-year-olds have gone binge drinking in the past month — fourth highest in the nation. Fewer than 22 percent view binge drinking as harmful or dangerous behavior, the lowest percentage in the country.

In fact, the federal report indicates that Vermonters are among the least concerned in the country about the effects of drug use.

[LisaMc46]

I would guarantee that the recent upswing in crimes is almost 100 percent due to drug abuse.

My neighbor is a therapist and says about 6 months ago the state started releasing a lot of prisoners who were incarcerated b/c of drug-related crimes to make room for violent offenders.

These people are walking the streets, desperate for a fix, and without much in the way of treatment options. It's insane. I have a friend who works for CPS and it's hard for her to find help for opiate addicted mothers who want to turn their lives around.

And then there are the Vermont doctors who prescribe opiates like candy and the state pharmacy system that makes it difficult for pharmacists to figure out if someone is getting prescriptions from more than one doctor. The BFP did a series about this recently.

[badhornet]

Burlington is starting to be known as Bud Town