Vermont's Response to Opioids

KnowOD messaging provides strategies that people can take to reduce overdose and overdose death such as using new syringes, testing for fentanyl and using naloxone as well as how to get these resources for free through community efforts. It also helps people identify when someone might be experiencing an overdose and how to respond to reverse it. 

Vermont adapted the CDC’s Rx Awareness messaging, promoting RxAware, which focuses on people who have been prescribed opioids and discusses their strength, how easy it is to become dependent and addicted to them and how Vermonters can prevent addiction and overdose. 

Vermont’s syringe service programs (SSP) provide free and anonymous services, including access to new syringes, naloxone and fentanyl test strips, to reduce overdose and fatal overdose, in addition to preventing infectious diseases and connecting people to treatment and recovery services. 

Access to the overdose reversal medication, naloxone (Narcan® nasal spray), has been greatly expanded in Vermont, with free distribution through emergency medical services (EMS) responders, pharmacies, SSPs and community treatment, recovery, health and resource centers. 

Vermont’s prescription drug disposal system provides Vermonters with easy, free and convenient ways to safely get rid of unused or expired opioid medications through mail-back envelopes, kiosk drop boxes and coordinating the bi-annual National Take Back Day events.

The “Rule Governing the Prescribing of Opioids for Pain,” enacted in 2017 and updated in 2024, provides legal requirements for the appropriate use of opioids in treating pain in order to minimize opportunities for misuse and diversion and optimize prevention of addiction and overdose.

The Vermont Prescription Monitoring System (VPMS) helps health care providers improve patient care and prevent potential harm resulting from use of prescribed controlled substances, including opioids, by monitoring prescribing trends, allowing prescribers to review prescribing patterns and providing continued education to health care providers. 

To continue the evolution and enhancement of Vermont’s systems of care, the Social Autopsy Reports identify trends in how Vermonters who died of a drug overdose interacted with state systems prior to death to identify opportunities for intervention. 

The Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, established by Vermont Legislative Act 118, convenes in meetings open to the public to develop recommendations on how to spend the state's share of settlement money with drug manufacturers and distribution companies over the toll caused by prescription opioids. 

• To provide different levels of treatment for people experiencing OUD, Vermont utilizes a system of nine “hubs” that provide a higher intensity of support and over 100 “spokes” that provide office-based care, both of which can provide medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and other evidence-based treatments. 

• Vermont’s recovery system provides services that support a variety of avenues for recovery to address each person’s unique recovery journey, including peer recovery, family support, substance-free activities and access to recovery through Vermont’s emergency departments.