Straight roads do not make careful drivers
2024-01-18
Dear friend,
Why does someone smoke crack? Or inject themselves with heroin? Or otherwise ingest cocaine, fentanyl, meth, and/or Tranq?
With all the Vermonters and Americans and humans worldwide dying of this stuff and ruining their lives, I've been trying to understand it better.
Intense physical addiction is a huge part of the answer, of course. It's such a huge factor that opioid use disorder (OUD) is being handled in public health like diabetes -- as a chronic illness in which the opioid user needs suboxone as much as the diabetic needs insulin.
While there is a lot of scientific and health merit in that approach, we must also examine the emotional and social dependencies on opioids in order to loosen the hold of this epidemic.
"The drugs are always there for them. It's a friend that never lets them down."
I was talking this morning in the State House card room with Kimberly Welch, a Housing Counselor at Capstone Community Partners in Rutland, Vermont. I wrote her words down and asked her for permission to quote them to you.
Another housing advocate in the State House today was Brenda Siegel, the 2022 Democratic nominee for Governor -- and, as we were discussing here, my yoga teacher at her Elliot Street studio in Brattleboro in the 2000s.
For someone living on the street who has nothing, likely not even any friends or family who have stuck by them, powerful narcotics and stimulants are a friend of last resort.
Can a friend be that harmful, but you could still be loyal to them? Sure. I've had "friends" who weren't good for me in the big picture, but who were there for me in some way.
Telling people not to do drugs is like saying "Say good-bye to your friend."
Why should someone take that leap of faith? How can we support them in it?
To heal our substance-use epidemic, we need to offer a life path of substance and meaning.
How? Like a lot of conversations in Vermont today, it starts this way....
"We desperately need sober housing," Lewis Nielson told our committee yesterday.
Lewis is a Corrections Recovery Coach at Rutland Turning Point Center in Rutland, Vermont.
My committee is House Corrections and Institutions, in the Vermont General Assembly.
Lewis's point was underlined later by Jon Hoyt, who is Corrections Recovery Coach at Springfield Turning Point Center in Springfield, Vermont. In a new program, Jon and other recovery coaches are going into Southern State Correctional Facility (SSCF) and teaching emotional and life skills to inmates who want to stay sober when they leave incarceration.
Jon said, âI can teach them every skill in the book. If we donât support them when they get out, what good is it going to do?â
Yesterday's House Corrections testimony on YouTube.
You can see the full testimony of Lewis, Jon, and other recovery experts here.
Living in prison is hard.
But prison is a structured environment designed to basically meet basic needs.
To survive the transition out of prison into the community, you'll probably need to confront:
not having a job
not having stable housing
not having an address or anywhere to receive mail (or a functioning post office -- something we're all suffering with)
not having an ID
not having a copy of your birth certificate or two pieces of mail to get an ID
not having support of friends or family (many inmates have burned a lot of those bridges)
not having healthcare (Medicaid is unavailable in prison by federal law, and turning it back on when you leave is not seamless)
not having your prescriptions (the average incarcerated person in Vermont has six -- imagine what it takes to set that up with a new healthcare provider)
not having a winter coat or shoes or a change of clothes
not having a car
not having some basic life skills, e.g. laundry, cooking
not having access to a kitchen where you could cook a healthy meal (folks living in motels rely in microwaveable meals, or takeout, on which they might be spending over $1,100/month)
not having more than a few bucks in your pocket
not having any location in which you feel safe, and that includes wherever you happen to be sleeping
On top of that, over 60% of incarcerated individuals in Vermont are addicted to opioids, with over 90% addicted to something substantial, when you include alcohol and other substances.
While in prison, the state provides Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT), which is the provision of methadone, suboxone, or other opioids that scratch the addict's itch without the hazard of an illegal street drug.
Outside of prison, you can also get that on Medicaid. But often not right away.
How are you going to scratch that itch? Going through dope sickness (withdrawal) on top of buying groceries at Wal-Mart and not knowing where you're going to sleep that night, or if people are using drugs where you're staying, is not a recipe for success.
On the other hand, there's a good chance that you know where to go and spend whatever cash or resources you have on street drugs, which your body is not prepared for.
Add it all up. The 72 hours after you're released from incarceration are more than a challenge.
Again and again I hear stories of individuals being overwhelmed by the challenges they face, unprepared, and under-supported. Fatal overdoses are common in that time period.
Are we doing that individual any good, or society any good, by releasing them in these conditions?
Transitional housing is key to re-entry having any chance of working, but we don't have enough of it.
Vermont has about 100 transitional housing beds. That's not anywhere near enough.
We live in a society that believes, "That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
It's a helpful attitude for immediate survival.
But as public policy, it's stupid and inhumane.
We're not providing enough of the basic building blocks by which people, who are ready to, can choose to create a life and not an addiction. Instead, we're providing a thousand points of failure -- any one on their own not a big deal, and something a resourced adult can handle. But for someone on the edge, there are so many decks stacked against them that too many are doomed to fail.
"Straight roads do not make skillful drivers" - as seen on a Vermont road this summer.
We need to do better. For a new slogan, how about "Straight roads do not make skillful drivers"?
Giving everyone a free life -- a straight road with all green lights -- isn't the answer. Meaning and connection are the opposite of addiction, and those require self-discovery and initiative. We need community members to contribute, which means figuring out your own way of showing up for your fellow humans.
Expecting bends in the road and training for them makes for resilient humans and families.
Straight roads do not make skillful drivers.
***
Thanks for reading today's update!
Mid-way through Week 3 of the 2024 legislative session, I have started feeling bad that I haven't written back home more.
The State House is a firehose of information and conversation about Vermont.
To be useful, I want to filter out the important bits. But there is so much to choose from.
I keep starting letters to you and then trailing off....
I chose today's story because whether or not your life is directly affected by the opioid epidemic and homelessness, the entire fabric of our state is deeply affected by these issues, and how they intersect with public safety, criminal justice, and incarceration.
Our committee is deep into conversations covering all aspects of these topics.
Want to know what your Windham-6 Rep is talking about on any given day?
Our committee agenda for the week hangs outside our door:
And can be found on our committee webpage, under the agenda link. Here's this week's copy.
You've written me about a lot of bills that I will get back to you on. Keep your questions and comments coming!
Warm regards,
Rep. Tristan Roberts
Vermont House of Representatives
P.S. How's your week going? Please send me a quick note about a high point or a low point in your day.