By Patrick Mcardle
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Christina Nolan, the U.S. Attorney for Vermont, would like to bring a short documentary about heroin recovery to a public space in Rutland in February when the film will be screened at Rutland High School.
Kraig LaPorte, law enforcement coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, spoke at the Thursday meeting of Project VISION, to talk about “Face of Recovery,” which he called a drug prevention initiative.
Linked to the U.S. Attorney for Vermont’s website, there is a 30-second teaser for the documentary and 10-minute, full-length version. Justin Goulet, who now lives in New Hampshire, talks about his own problems with addiction and the criminal justice system.
Goulet meets with Nolan in the film and tells her how she helped him turn his life around.
Nolan tells Goulet she doesn’t think she’ll ever do anything that makes her as proud as giving people like Goulet “the chance to be the person you are again.”
“It means a lot to have somebody in a position like yours who really cares about the people and doesn’t view somebody as just a junkie and I felt that from the first second that I met you, that you treated me like a human being and that really made me feel good,” Goulet tells Nolan, the head federal prosecutor for Vermont.
The documentary is clear about the distance the relationship between Nolan and Goulet has traveled. She reminds him that when she prosecuted, Goulet, who was living in Burlington at the time, had no previous criminal record and Nolan charged him with a felony in federal court for which he was convicted.
During the video, Goulet said people are often surprised and sometimes don’t even believe him when he tells them he is a heroin addict. LaPorte said Goulet was a strength and conditioning coach, work he continues in New Hampshire, when he got injured. Goulet got a prescription for painkillers which led him to his addiction.
“Justin is a former defendant,” LaPorte told the audience at Project VISION. “He went to federal prison for his drug crimes but the documentary that we made about Justin’s story is a story of hope and recovery, their (Goulet and Nolan) relationship and how law-enforcement certainly has a part and accountability but also the need for treatment, recovery and prevention,” he said.
Since the documentary was created over the summer, it has been shown in various parts of the state, LaPorte said, but now there is a push to reach more areas in Southern Vermont, although it’s already been showed in Brattleboro.
The documentary, often with Nolan and Goulet attending, has been shown at schools, community events and treatment centers.
LaPorte and Sara Alexander, a fact-witness coordinator for the U.S. attorney’s office, said they were planning to show the documentary at Rutland High School on Feb. 7.
LaPorte and Alexander said they were hoping to identify a location to screen the documentary for the wider community while they’re in the area on Feb. 7. They invited members of Project VISION to speak to them on Thursday with ideas about where it might be shown and what agency might be able to host.
“There’s a lot of doom and gloom related to drug activity in Vermont and so we want to celebrate this success story and bring that to Rutland,” LaPorte said.
As a dedicated athlete, Goulet is helping to reduce the stigma attached to addiction by showing people not all addicts have the same background, LaPorte said.
“Also, he talks clearly in the film about needing the accountability, that he’s thankful for his arrest and his accountability because ultimately that got him on the path of recovery,” he said.
While there have been challenges and relapses, LaPorte said Goulet has been in recovery for about four years.
The documentary can be viewed online by following links at www.justice.gov/usao-vt/face-recovery
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