St. Albans tackles drug crime

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(Host) In a time of rising drug crime in Vermont and tight resources for law enforcement, the people of St. Albans are waging their own war on drugs.

VPR’s Susan Keese reports:

(Keese) St. Albans Mayor Martin Manahan says he was well aware of a rise in break-ins and drug related violence as drug dealers have moved in from urban areas over the past several years.

But the impact of those changes hit home when his son’s pediatrician told him what he was seeing.  

(Manahan) “The average age of the individual in our community that was using oxycontin or any of these drugs, percocet, was 13 years old. By the time they became addicted they were 16 years old. And he was seeing about 70 patients. Just assuming that their addiction was one pill a day, based on the numbers that he was seeing that was over 8 million dollars that was being used to support these addictions.”

(Keese) The nature of the crime city officials were seeing supported the notion that prescription drugs were a big problem.

(Manahan) “It got to the point about a year and a half ago where articles were appearing in the paper and indicated that the individual may have been hurt in the accident, that very soon their home would be targeted because these people knew that they perhaps had pain medication in their  homes.”

(Keese) The city has held two forums on the problem, which hundreds of local people attended. From there several different committees were formed. One is working through the schools to educate parents and teachers on how to spot the signs that someone is abusing drugs.

A neighborhood watch has been launched.

A volunteer crime task force has suggested scaling back the city fire department to free up money for law enforcement. Officials are also considering starting an ambulance service to generate funds.

Manahan says St. Albans isn’t the only Vermont community facing drug problems – far from it.

(Manahan) “We are one of the few communities that has faced it head-on and stepped up and said we are no longer going to let this control our community. And we’re going to take our community back.”

(Host) Residents of St. Albans, including Manahan, will be among the witnesses at a field hearing before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in St. Albans Friday.  The topic is ‘Community-based Solutions to Drug-related Crime in Rural America.’

For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.

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