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How Serious a Problem Is Heroin Addiction?
that more than $2 million of heroin and other opiates are being traf-
ficked into Vermont every week.
New York City writer Gina Tron spent much of her childhood and
adolescent years living in Vermont. She says that because people typically
have such an idyllic perception of the state, they are shocked to find out
that it has “such a nasty drug problem.”
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Tron has seen for herself how
widespread heroin abuse is in Vermont, and she is aware of how it de-
stroys lives. She writes:
I can’t count how many bodies of classmates and neigh-
bors have been found in parking lots and on living
room floors. In addition to the overdoses, there were
also suicides—former neighbors and family friends who
shot themselves to escape their addiction. And there
were those who didn’t get physically hurt but nonethe-
less destroyed their lives, like the girl who grew up down
the road from me who went to federal prison before she
turned 20 for heroin trafficking and illegal weapons pos-
session. . . . It’s time for Vermonters, and the rest of the
country, to recognize that heroin is now nearly as much
a part of our state’s identity as our beloved maple syrup
and covered bridges.
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“It’s Everywhere”
Through revealing statistics, investigative findings, and innumerable first-
person accounts of heroin addiction, it has become virtually impossible to
ignore that the United States has a serious heroin problem. In many states,
including Missouri, New Jersey, Minnesota, and the entire New England
region, health officials and law enforcement professionals are grappling
with the problem and trying to figure out what can be done about it. “It’s
penetrating our entire society,” says Edward Walsh, who is police chief of
Taunton, Massachusetts. “It’s everywhere in our community.”
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