Melo on the Issues

Community safety

Drugs are the number one public safety issue in Burlington. Drug use is related to the increase in specific types of incidents including larcenies and car thefts and of course are directly causing the increase in overdoses. Burlington should declare a state of emergency in regards to this crisis. The administration is not reacting fast enough to drug use and related crime. I believe we need a safe injection site to help prevent people from using in the open and disposing of needles everywhere including on or near school grounds and our public parks. It would also provide an opportunity for additional harm reduction services to be provided. We must brand the CAHOOTS model (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets in Eugene, OR) for Burlington and be more informative about the progress being made to get it off the ground.