Sad News from the Streets

The news the past week was about the increasing armed robberies that is
happening in our region. In a channel 3 report, the police have said it is
because of drugs and the increase of heroin addiction here in Vermont.

There has never been so many armed robberies in Vermont ever in our history, but
things will get worse. Channel 3 interviewed one young man caught and he said
he had a $1000 a day habit. There are hundreds of addicts in Vermont, where are
they going to get the money to feed their addiction? Prostitution is a growing
trend among women addicts, some as young as 14.

What is the solution?

Jail, but no treatment available for addicts, and even if there was, what about
when they get out? There is virtually no treatment here in Vermont. We have
run into this problem for years. When we have someone who wants to get clean,
we have to send them out of state, which is very expensive, and we just do not
have the funding to do so.

Vermont needs to seriously address treatment issues here, or we have just seen
the tip of the ice burg on crime here in our city and state.
Our churches need to do more also, and here is where we as the Church can really
make a difference. Perhaps we need a meeting to see just what and how we can
help. If we really want to make a difference in our state, this is one issue we
cannot ignore, or give little attention too.

This is our biggest hindrance out on the street. We see over a hundred addicts
in our contacts during the year on the street, and most of these have little
resources available to them.

Our staff remembers well a man named Jimmy, a Viet Nam Vet, a heroin addict
since he came home wounded in 1966. Jimmy was a skilled woodworker and
carpenter, had a family, but lost everything to heroin, we took him in when no
one else would, and in the end, heroin killed him, but not before he prayed to
receive Christ as a result of our ministry to him.

I remember very well a man named Ron, who I tried to get into treatment, there
was nothing here that could help him with his heroin addiction, in the end, he
died on the street, they found his body with a needle still in his veins.
There are many stories, but these are so vivid in my mind, I knew these men,
they were my friends, and they were addicts.

So many we minister to are addicts, and we are concerned, and we see the numbers
of addicts grow daily, many of whom we do not even know, nor been able to make
contact.

Something needs to be done, our teams are out on the street, we do what we can.
The solution is not just jail, the solution is love, compassion, treatment, and
most of all, Christ!

Your Missionary to the Streets,
Dave