MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A bill approved by the Vermont Senate Tuesday aims to tamp down on the scourge of fatal overdoses by cracking down on drug dealers. It comes as the state continues to see a steady increase in opioid-related deaths — from 50 a decade ago to 244 in 2022 — and the governor and many lawmakers have called for a get-tough-on-crime approach.
“One-hundred percent of the glassine bags that the Department of Public Safety lab have tested contain fentanyl,” said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County. He says the deadly synthetic drug — and the emerging tranquilizer Xylazine — have inundated Vermont’s drug supply, driving fatal overdoses to historic heights.
Under a proposal moving forward at the Statehouse, anyone who knowingly sells drugs that cause a fatal overdose would face criminal charges. “The average person would be expected to know when they’re selling a drug that there’s fentanyl in it and how dangerous fentanyl is,” Sears said.
The bill also takes aim at problem properties like Burlington’s Decker Towers, a low-income apartment complex for seniors and people with disabilities where residents say they have taken their safety into their own hands. Sears says the bill would allow a judge to bar drug dealers and others from entering an apartment when they don’t live there. “We’re hopeful that will help some of the situations in places like Decker Towers and in Bennington,” he said.
The bill also once again hits pause on moving forward with the criminal justice reform initiative called “Raise the Age,” which moves cases involving offenders up to age 20 to family court, where they are treated as juveniles. The bill would allow 16 to 18-year-olds to be charged as adults for drug trafficking, aggravated stalking, and carrying a firearm with a felony.
Governor Phil Scott applauded the bill. “Unfortunately, we have observed drug traffickers are preying on young adults, using them because they know accountability is less likely,” he said.
The ACLU of Vermont calls the bill a major step backward, saying harsher penalties do not deter crime and longer sentences do not prevent future crime. And some lawmakers worry about other unintended consequences.
“Do some of those provisions make us safer or do they make us feel safer?” said Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden County, one of four to vote against the measure. She says she is concerned prosecutors making the decision to charge more young people in adult court could lead to disparities, “And often when you have discretion, you have disparities, you have people who are seen as punishable or treated like an adult.”
But Sen. Sears says it’s a small number of young people who are engaging in drug trafficking and violent crime
The bill now heads to the House. House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, says his main priority is getting Vermont’s courts working more efficiently so that if there are more penalties, it won’t create a backlog.
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