think they will notice this. so, if anyone needed a wake-up call to this crisis of heroin addiction, they got one from vermont s governor last month. he devoted the state of the state address to heroin. since 2000, they have seen an increase in opiate addictions. 770%. numbers like that led the governor to describe the state as facing a full-blown heroin crisis. he joins me to talk about the crisis. governor, it s good to talk to you again. i wish it were better circumstances. we know the magnitude of this, unfortunately, it happened to philip seymour hoffman. many say you have been watching this coming for quite some time now, it s why you did it. you are proposing more treatment for addicts along with tougher laws. which is more important? it s all important. i think the death of philip
you went to pennsylvania. 22 deaths in a period of how long? about a week. from is it all because it s laced with this drug you are talking about? right, it is. one of the things the a.g. s office is saying, we are on a manhunt. we want to find who is selling, distributing and dispensing this stuff. we want to prosecute. there s a statute that is drug results in death. if you sell, dispense, deliver this stuff and somebody dies, they are going to prosecute. they are going to find them. and the penalty is no more than 40 years. there s a stiff penalty attached to it. the question is, philip seymour hoffman, they arrested people immediately. around the country, when people o.d., it doesn t happen like that. why in his case and not other cases? is it going to change anything? something we have been talking about over the past week, why the attention on this case. it s the same reason you were
or chicago, a city that visits the e.r. from heroin overdose. taking out the young people, left and right. maryland where a toxic blend left 37 people dead since september. the same recipe killed 22 in the last week of january in pennsylvania. a 19-year-old user overdosed on that batch more than once but told cnn he and other junkies knew it was deadly and were seeking it out. somebody knows there s heroin bags out there killing people or making them overdose, we know they are the good bags. it s what everybody wants to do. good evening, i m don lemon. thank you for joining us. this is a special edition of heroin: a century of seduction. celebs like philip seymour
philip seymour hoffman, it does not discriminate. coming up, the u.s. urging north korea to release kenneth bay, an american with deteriorating health who has been detained for 15 months. my interview with his sister, plus a new push for the release that you will only hear here on cnn. see you back here at the top of the hour. n the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] .that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk that went to the store that reminded the man to buy the milk that was poured by the girl who loved the cat. [ meows ] the internet of everything is changing everything. cisco. tomorrow starts here. there s nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping.
taxpayers in vermont are spending twice what they spent nine years ago locking folks up. i can put someone in prison in vermont and i do. for 136 bucks a week, i can put them in treatment for heroin and other opiate addiction that works and gets them back, not committing crimes, making the streets safer and saving vermonters a ton of loot they are currently wasting on a prison process so when they come out, they are likely to reoffend. that s what i say to folks in their heads. with hearts, i say whether it s philip seymour hoffman or whether it s your neighbor or someone you don t know, you know, our common humanity should ask us to look at folks who are facing a disease that very possibly will kill them, certainly will destroy their life. we have an opportunity to interseed, get them treatment and get them hope and