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St. Albans City Police Chief Gary Taylor was struggling to pry the lid off the red, waist-high biohazard bin that is locked securely in his department’s evidence vault.

“I always have trouble with this,” he muttered. “Hang on.”

And then — POP! — there they were: thousands and thousands of pills in all shapes, sizes, colors and potencies.

Since late May, the St. Albans City Police Department (SAPD) has collected more than 8500 unwanted and unused prescription pills from residents as part of the city’s Prescription Drug Repository Program.... Read more

VERMONT — When Vermont’s colleges and universities seek the federal government’s help in growing their student bodies, this probably isn’t the kind of “growth” they’re expecting. Tens of thousands of health clinics nationwide, including some student health centers on Vermont college campuses, have experienced a dramatic rise in the cost of birth control pills and other female contraceptives. The price hikes are the direct result of changes in the Medicaid rebate program included in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, which took effect January 1.... Read more

MONTPELIER — A bill introduced in the Vermont legislature earlier this session that would allow doctors, pharmacists and other health-care professionals to refuse treatment or procedures that run contrary to their own conscience could be thrust to the forefront of the state’s health-care debate if recently introduced federal legislation becomes law.... Read more

BURLINGTON - About 90 Burlington employees and family members are saving hundreds of dollars a year in prescription drug costs through a city-run benefits plan that may violate federal law.... Read more

BURLINGTON - It's been nearly four months since Shane Higgins has been able to make the half-hour trip from his home at the Starr Farm Nursing Center in Burlington to his registered medical marijuana caregiver in rural Chittenden County, and the effects are taking their toll.... Read more

VERMONT - Last week, the attorney general's office announced two new cases of registered nurses being accused of stealing drugs from their patients. Both cases are the result of a stepped-up effort by investigators in the state's Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit (MFRAU) to crack down on impaired and/or drug-addicted caregivers and the illegal diversion of drugs by health-care professionals in Vermont.... Read more

VERMONT - At first glance, the videotape of Elizabeth Beddie seems to show someone performing her typical nursing duties of caring for the sick and dying. The one-time nursing assistant at the Berlin Health and Rehabilitation Center gently rolls her unconscious patient, a 98-year-old woman with chronic dementia and degenerative joint disease, onto her side and removes a duragesic patch from her skin. The patch, which contains 300 milligrams of the powerful painkiller Fentanyl, is designed to soak into the patient's bloodstream over a three-day period.... Read more