Former heroin dealer, user: Jail saved my life

RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) As Vermont makes progress in the battle against opioid addiction, drug users continue to die at alarming rates. And as police target problem areas around the state, we learn the story of a woman who grew up in Rutland who shares her perspective as both a user and a dealer.

“The first time I did it, I fell in love with it,” Christina Colburn said.

She’s talking about heroin. A drug she first tried when she was 20. Colburn soon turned to dealing to get her next fix.

“I looked at it as if they don’t get it from me, they will get it from someone else, so I might as well make something off of it,” Colburn said.

But that ended in handcuffs. She was arrested in connection with an assault to recover a drug debt and then a second time for dealing.

Reporter Adam Sullivan: As someone who has been addicted, and contributed to the addiction problem, how bad is this problem?
Christina Colburn: Bad.

And the numbers don’t lie. Over the past several years, opioid-related deaths in Vermont have been on the rise. And this year, as more and more fentanyl reaches the market, the trend is continuing.

“You know, we have a more potent drug that we are dealing with now. Heroin was deadly enough and now we are talking fentanyl which certainly surpasses heroin,” said Lt. Casey Daniell of the Southern Vermont Drug Task Force.

Vermont’s drug task force is using overdose data to target high use areas of the state like Bennington, Barre, Rutland and Brattleboro. Recently, 15 accused dealers were arrested in the Brattleboro area alone.

Colburn detoxed in jail, served 10 months and has been clean since.

“I actually say this a lot: I feel like going to jail saved my life,” Colburn said.

She’s on suboxone to help in her recovery. It’s part of Vermont’s hub-and-spoke medication-assisted treatment model that, according to ongoing studies, is showing success.

Colburn says she now has a renewed sense of hope and knows resources are available.

“Honestly, I thought I would die from drugs,” she said. “And you get that bad you want to die.”

“I certainly believe there is progress. If we can save one life, that’s progress,” Casey said.

Police say those investigations will continue, including the ones that take them out of state. And more arrests will be made.