The Vermont Reimagining Drug Policy Conference is a one-day convening to examine the harms of existing criminal approaches to drug use and policies designed to strengthen systems of care & support.
Dr. Sarah Wakeman delivered the keynote address for the Vermont Reimagining Drug Policy conference on November 9, 2023, discussing the impacts of stigma on health, access to treatment and much more.
Watch this video to see a mock exhibit of a overdose prevention center at the RICARES Benz Gallery in downtown Providence. You can also check out their website to see pictures of the exhibit.
In 2021, OnPoint NYC opened the first sanctioned overdose prevention centers, or OPCs, in the U.S. Since then, they've reversed hundreds of overdoses and connected thousands of people with addiction services and social supports, including voluntary treatment. We spoke with OnPoint's staff to learn how OPCs are saving lives.
The Drug Policy Alliance is building a world without the drug war where people who use drugs are supported, not punished. We’re building a world where drug policy is grounded in evidence, health, equity, and human rights. Join us: https://drugpolicy.org/.
Video produced by the Vermont Department of Health featuring Dr. Mark Depman. Part of a series End Addiction Stigma (2022).
View the full series of End Addiction Stigma
It didn’t work to arrest our way out of this crisis, and Measure 110 is showing us that when addiction services are made more accessible, people get the help they need. More on that from Measure 110 providers and advocates who participated in this Oct 4, 2023 KATU News Town Hall.
Overview of Oregon’s decriminalization law and progress in the first two years.
Vermont House Human Services Committee Hearing on H. 72, Legislation to authorize Overdose Prevention Centers (February 24, 2023) featuring testimony of Kailin See (OnPoint), Brandon Marshall (Brown School of Public Health) and Sarah Russell, Special Assistant to End Homelessness for the City of Burlington.
Vermont House Committee on Human Services Hearing on Overdose Prevention Center Legislation, H. 72 (04-27-2023. Testimony of Brandon Marshall, Professor of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health.
Quick overview of Overdose Prevention Centers, a much-needed response to the unprecedented numbers of Americans dying from an overdose. OPCs reduce overdose death and connect people to ongoing care.
Interview of Maia Szalavitz is the author, most recently, of Undoing Drugs. Produced by Ed Baker and the Addiction Recovery Channel.
Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett and her provincial counterpart, Sheila Malcolmson, announced that adults in British Columbia will be allowed to possess small amounts of some illicit drugs starting next year — a move that marks a dramatic shift in Canada's drug policy.
Building Hope: Men in the Trades and Substance Use, a video series raising awareness about the opioid overdose crisis and the impact of the toxic drug supply on people in the trades. produced for The Tides of Change South Surrey, Whiterock Overdose Prevention and Response Community Action Team in British Columbia.
UVM CORA Community Rounds Workshop Series session, “Understanding the Harm Reduction Approach: Principles and Practice” presented by Theresa Vezina, Associate Director of Vermont CARES. Recorded on April 28, 2021.
Presentation on drug decriminalization in Portugal and Oregon, produced by the Drug Policy Alliance and recorded in March 2023.
Panel discussion on Decriminalization and Public Health featuring Dr. Kimberly Sue, MD PHD (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, Yale School of Medicine) and Dr. Spruha Joshi, PhD, MPH (Research Scientist, Center for Opioid Epidemiology & Policy, NYU Langone Health). Recorded in March 2023.
Webinar discussing the experience of implementing drug checking in 2019 in the city of Toronto.
Denise Cullen, co-founder and board member of GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing) and Broken No More, talks about the link between incarceration and overdose. Denise became an outspoken advocate for drug policy reform after losing her son, Jeff, to an overdose in 2008.
Quick video describing how the drug war has spread beyond the criminal system into education, employment, housing, and more. Produced by The Drug Policy Alliance.
Panel entitled “Declining to prosecute: The role of prosecutors in drug decriminalization and promoting public health” hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance in partnership with the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and Fair and Just Prosecution.
CBN News video, Mar 7, 2014: “America has a heroin problem, especially in the Northeast. Vermont's governor is blowing the whistle on the problem and the state is seeking recovery.”