Opiate scourge linked to rise in Vermont bank robberies
http://vtdigger.org/2014/12/26/opiate-scourge-linked-rise-vermont-bank-robberies/
Page introduced a program last January called “Rapid Intervention for Community Change,” which focuses on using public health strategies, quick access to treatment and more science-based risk assessments, while making sure offenders repair the harm they caused victims. Page said the program also saves taxpayers money. It is designed for repeat offenders who commit nonviolent misdemeanors, a lesser form of crime.
But robberies are by law violent felonies, so the opiate and heroin-addled people who are caught for those crimes won’t simply get the drug-treatment and social services they need. They’ll be sentenced for their crimes first.
Sheriff Marcoux tends to see hard, extremely addictive drugs in practically every case that involves robbing or stealing.
“I think drugs are the things to build a criminal career on,” Marcoux said.
Silverman also speculates that the bank robberies of late are “really fueled by illegal drug use.”
“These are acts of desperation,” he said.
Filed under: General Problems
There is nothing on TV. I blame it on opiates.
Suicide, also an act of desperation… also illegal.