BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Plans are moving forward to open Vermont’s first overdose prevention center in Burlington.
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak last month picked a special assistant to help set up the center, also known as a safe injection site or harm reduction center. The city is now putting together a proposal to pick a service provider to run the center. No location has been announced.
The Legislature last spring overrode a veto from the governor to allow the creation of the Burlington site. Scott and other opponents have said the center will take away from other resources. Supporters say the centers save lives and connect people to treatment while reducing pressures on EMS services and decreasing drug consumption in public.
“It is still a life-saving policy and it is still critical to put this tool among other tools on the table for us to support folks living with substance use disorder in the city, as well as the secondary impacts of that reality with needles and other things in our city,” Mulvaney-Stanak said.
The mayor also said that the city is working to diligently follow the law as the new center is set up, considering possible headwinds from both the Legislature and the incoming Trump administration.