Cover2 Resources

Greg interviews Jennifer Levitz, reporter with the Wall Street Journal, to discuss what she has learned investigating the opioid epidemic. Jennifer’s recent article, Vermont’s Radical Experiment to Break the Addiction Cycle, tells the story of Todd Popovitch, a former drug user who has been given a second chance under Vermont’s revolutionary new policies regarding drug possession. Jennifer discusses the research which she undertook to write the article. Vermont has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. “Vermont is situated in a pipeline for drugs between New York City and Connecticut,” she says. “They were going right up from New York to Rutland, Vermont. That became known as the heart of it… in a lot of places, first, it was the opioid pills. Then there were crackdowns on getting those pills. Then the heroine started to flood in from the big cities. People could make a profit on it in Vermont. It was simple economics.”