While opting out of selling retail cannabis for now would give our town time to plan, opting in will most likely be a permanent - and irreversible - decision.
On March 2, residents of Brattleboro will vote on whether the town should allow cannabis dispensaries once retail sales become legal in Vermont in 2022.
That's not a long way off, but our community still has some time left to have a much-needed conversation about what retail sales of cannabis in our town might look like - and we should have that conversation.
Specifically, the wording being put to voters on the ballot next month is: “Shall the Town permit the operation of licensed cannabis retailers subject to such municipal ordinance and regulation as the Selectboard may lawfully adopt and implement?”...
I do not know the depth of suffering felt by my Black and Brown friends and neighbors in our community, but I mourn for them deeply. I can say I do know how raw and broken I felt when Christine Blasey Ford spoke for survivors like myself who never...
Many of us have now hit our limit on self-quarantining. Whether sheltering in place on our own, or with family, children, loved ones, friends, partners, or roommates, we are all entering a new kind of being-aloneness that is both challenging and eye-opening. This past month, we witnessed firsthand that...
Sometimes victims are not able to hear about other victim experiences because they are still coming to terms with their own. Here is mine - and why I believe that many victims and survivors don't share theirs. My virginity was taken by a 38-year-old family friend when I was 16, a scenario that played out several times after. He had already encouraged me to embrace my sexuality and had taken pornographic pictures of me at 15. I received only a...
Prescription opiate misuse and abuse such as OxyContin or hydrocodone is all over the media. Governor Peter Shumlin even called a statewide Opiate Addiction Forum to address the issue this year. What is not being highlighted in the media is prescription stimulant misuse and abuse - especially among teenagers and college students. Granted, the consequences and dangers are not as obvious but they are just as significant. In the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is completed nationally in middle...
The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition (BAPC) and Brattleboro Union High School partnered to hold a “Community Conversation on Preventing Teen Prescription Drug Misuse” on April 29. The event was co-hosted with members of the BUHS's ATI 802 Above the Influence Club. The conversation was organized in response to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which reported that 1 in 5 BUHS students have misused a stimulant and/or pain reliever/opiate in their lifetime, with 1 in 10 stating they have done...
The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition (BAPC) thanks the 17 businesses that participated in the Responsible Beverage Service Trainings that were held in September and co-sponsored by the Department of Liquor Control. BAPC recognizes the important role that local retailers and restaurants play in preventing underage drinking. Thirty-two employees of retailers and establishments that serve or sell alcohol and/or tobacco attended the trainings. Congratulations to our winners from Brattleboro Mobil/Neighbor's Mobil and Dover Forge, who each won a $25 gift certificate...
I am looking for people to call on for support and resources as I complete my capstone project, which is a feasibility study to determine if a community resource center in Brattleboro should and could be created and if it would be sustainable. Such a center would provide a shared office space for small social-service organizations to reduce administrative expenses and to increase communication and collaboration among them. Additionally, this center would offer community members access to many services and...