Political Quotes

“On January 8, 2014, an extraordinary thing happened in Vermont. Our Governor, Peter Shumlin, giving a State of the State Address, devoted its entirety to the opioid epidemic in Vermont. I remember how stunned people were that a Governor would take such a difficult topic and spend his entire address on it. I remember the reaction of many of my colleagues here, who said: Peter, isn't that dangerous? You are talking about something that is not great for the reputation of the State. What, in fact, was great for the reputation of the State was that our Governor and our leaders acknowledged the existence of a problem that was creating heartbreak and heartache in all of our communities; and a problem acknowledged is the first step in dealing with a problem to be solved. Since then, Vermont has been extraordinary in its efforts to attack this problem. Communities like Rutland, St. Albans, Barre, and Burlington have coordinated with the police force, with our medical providers and our hospitals to provide a treatment-based approach to helping folks who have an addiction to opioids--many of them coming by it as a result of prescriptions for legitimate medical needs. We had, in Rutland, a community coming together to create Project VISION, which has faith-based groups, the police, and the medical community doing everything they can to basically give individual attention to folks who are trying to help themselves get off of opiates.…”