9/10/25

I am writing to you about the article written about overdoses in Hartford. As a Hartford resident, a licensed drug and alcohol counselor, and the coordinator of the annual Hartford Overdose Awareness Candlelight Vigil, I was very disappointed in the one-sided article, accompanied by pictures, that was written about overdoses.

Overdose deaths have decreased in both NH and VT for a second year. While I believe one overdose death is one too many, the decrease is a testament to the people who work tirelessly with people who have substance use disorders, who educate them about harm reduction, give them a nonjudgmental place to be, respond to overdoses with Narcan, and help them work through the trauma the majority of them have faced.

This article was written just days after Hartford held its 10th annual overdose vigil and at the beginning of recovery month. All this article did was help to desensitize people even further to the humanness behind overdoses. It became one more article to shame and stigmatize people with substance use disorders. As a community member, I am well aware of the damage that has been done to all community members because of this crisis. Working to form a recovery-friendly community won’t happen with sensationalized pieces like the one you published.

If you had been at the vigil, you would have heard the stories of five people in long-term recovery, four who were saved multiple times because of Narcan and now work in the recovery field. You would have heard about the child they now have because of their sobriety, the house they now own because they are sober, the relationships healed and begun because of their recovery, and their ability to look in the mirror and love the person looking back at them. You would have heard a wife tell the story of losing her husband and her children losing their father. The widow (also in recovery) and her daughter light the candles at the vigil each year, one by one, as I read names of people who have died from an overdose. This year, I read about 700 names. Each one was loved, had a past beyond their substance use, and had a future cut short due to overdose.

My challenge to you during recovery month is to give the same coverage to people in recovery, people who are here because they received Narcan. Interview the people who work day in and day out because we believe people with substance use disorders deserve a chance at life. Interview the police officers who take the time to stop someone in recovery, who they saw at their worst, and tell them they look good and to keep up the hard work. Allow the voices of the recovering to begin to heal this community.

— Dottie Moffitt

In response to this 9/5/25 article:

**“You could die! You could die!” This has been a bad summer for overdoses in WRJ.** In fact, writes Eric Francis for Daybreak, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Hartford’s emergency services have been responding to at least one reported drug overdose nearly every day for several months running now.” The latest was yesterday in broad daylight on the front lawn of Hartford Town Hall, where a passerby flagged down a passing police officer to point out a man lying in a heap by the apple trees. After being revived, the man waved away all offers of help and walked off. Which, Eric writes, is hardly unusual. He details what he’s seen in a summer of calls.