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“Artwork featured in the Rolling Stone article, ’The New Face of Heroin,’ modifies the iconic image on a can of maple syrup — from the traditional sugarmaker in the woods, into a heroin user getting a quick fix. Vermont has been in the national media spotlight since Governor Peter Shumlin dedicated his entire State-of-the-State speech to the state’s opiate epidemic.
Epidemic or not, maple industry leaders say the artwork rubs them the wrong way.
“The sugarmakers I know are honest hardworking people and this really puts a tarnish, showing someone that might be a sugarmaker doing this. I imagine it’s done because Vermont has such a national reputation for maple syrup, and we are really proud of that. It just goes to show how famous we are, but this is certainly a bad thing for Vermont and a bad thing for our industry,” said Sam Cutting, Chair of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association.“ - WCAX Burlington