The House Human Services Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of buprenorphine, the prescription opioid-addiction treatment drug.
The panel unanimously passed the bill, H.162, after it stalled for a year, and it will now head to the House floor for a vote in the coming days.
The legislation would allow people to possess up to 224 milligrams — or about two weeks worth of a prescription — of the substance, even if they don’t have permission from a doctor.
Supporters of the measure have said decriminalizing the drug will save lives by preventing people addicted to opioids from using deadlier alternatives.
“In all aspects, this is a bill about keeping people alive. Anybody who is using bupe however it is obtained is a person who is not using fentanyl,” said Rep. Sandy Haas, P-Rochester, a member of committee.
The bill was first sent to the human services panel in March 2019, after it passed the House Judiciary Committee.
The human services chair, Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said the measure stalled because the committee hadn’t had enough time to consider it, and needed to address concerns lawmakers had with the bill —particularly about the amount of the drug that should be decriminalized.
The bill cut back the amount of buprenorphine someone could possess without facing a charges from the current misdemeanor amount of up to 3,600 milligrams — to just 224 milligrams, about a two-week personal supply.
Pugh said that the committee reduced the decriminalized amount because the goal is to encourage opioid users to get into treatment.
“We know it saves lives, it’s a harm reduction,” Pugh said of buprenorphine. “And we want people to be in treatment, not in self-treatment.”
Although the measure passed out of committee unanimously Wednesday, it has received pushback.
Last year, Vermont’s health commissioner, Mark Levine, said that while he would support the decriminalization effort in any other state, he wouldn’t in Vermont. Because there are no wait times to get into substance abuse disorder treatment in Vermont, the commissioner argued that there is no need to make the possessing the substance legal without a prescription.
Pugh said that while Vermont has a robust treatment system, there are still people who use opioids and are hesitant about immediately seeking help from a doctor.
“He says ‘Anywhere but here’ because we have a treatment system,” Pugh said. “Having a smaller amount can be the path to treatment.”
Brenda Siegel, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor who has advocated for the buprenorphine legislation, said that she was glad to see the measure pass Wednesday. She said that reducing the amount of the drug that would be decriminalized will likely mean the measure sees wider support.
“I do think that it generally will make legislators more comfortable passing it. And I think because of that, it’s worth it,” she said.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that buprenorphine possession under 224 mg would be decriminalized for people over 21. There is no age limit on that provision. For those found possessing more than that amount, offenders under 21 will be sent to diversion. Also, Rep. Sandy Haas is from Rochester, not Burlington, as a previous version of this article stated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Buprenorphine decriminalization bill advances in House after long wait.
