What is Decriminalize Vermont?

Decriminalize Vermont is a coalition of organizations and individual Vermonters committed to ending the harms of Vermont’s drug laws and promoting policies focused on health, equity, and human rights.

We believe that:
1. People who use drugs deserve dignity.
  People should not be stigmatized, marginalized, and subjected to traumas such as incarceration because of their use of drugs.
2. Criminalization increases harm.
  Laws criminalizing drug possession deter people from seeking voluntary health services and create systemic barriers to obtaining jobs, housing, credit, licenses, and more. Systems of punishment are also wasteful, expensive, and ineffective.
3. Vermont must invest in systems of care.
  We must adapt our laws and enhance our systems of care to meet the needs of people who use drugs and their communities. These policies must promote equitable health care and be grounded in both evidence and lived experience.
Laws that criminalize the use of drugs cause harm to individuals and their communities.
People who use drugs continue to experience unprecedented rates of mortality from overdose and morbidity from infectious diseases. The criminalization of drug use exacerbates these challenges by:
- Reducing access to healthcare, housing, employment, and other vital resources
- Causing structural, social, and self stigmatization
- Driving up toxicity in the drug supply due to lack of regulation
- Increasing likelihood of overdose death via incarceration, isolation, and adulterated drug supply
- Raising costs to society, from arrests to court cases to emergency response systems
The data is clear: Vermonters support decriminalization.
A recent poll found that more than four out of five (84%) of likely Vermont voters support eliminating criminal penalties for having small amounts of drugs. Furthermore, 81% support reframing the state’s approach to drug use as a health issue, with a focus on reducing the harms of addiction and offering health and recovery services.