Lucas Sillars

Can Vermont look for new approaches?

Other countries, like Switzerland and Portugal, have successfully moved away from punitive measures to attack opioid demand. Here, the public approach to the opioid epidemic is slowly homing in on a model that includes treatment, with some promising indicators of success. But one thing is still in the way: stigma.

Since its official classification as a public health emergency in 2017 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, overall numbers have begun to wane, if only a little.

The wheels are turning, but is it enough?

The question of how best to stem the tide of the substance addiction pandemic is daunting. Other nations, like Switzerland and Portugal, have attempted far more wide-ranging strategies, with evident success.

Might those more-radical steps work in the United States?...

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