The VIX is unusually high due to all of the fear in the market.  This should make you consider option plays that capitalize on this occurrence.  There are a few plays that certainly make this possible, but not without some consequences (of course).

The first and easiest to understand is short options.  Selling a high volatility option nets you significantly more premium when the VIX is this high.  The consequence is easy to see, you're being paid more because you're taking on significantly more risk.  A stock like GE moving 6, 8, 10% in a day make it look like yesterday's tech stock. Companies blowing up left and right or requiring bail outs make your perceived risk much higher than in a 10-15'ish VIX environment.  I find there are still some times when I feel the risk is worth it.  A good example is on an index.  Yes, the indexes seem to thrash about wildly these days, but indexes don't go out of business. In a short put situation, assignment means you're buying even lower and can write bloated calls against your new holding.  Of course, do not sell puts in any situation where you're not comfortable owning the underlying.

Butterflies are also short vega option plays.  As volatility falls, the butterfly shows a profit.  The catch here is that a butterfly has a relatively small profit zone.  The profit is big (sometimes 10 to 1 risk/reward), but the distance between profit and total loss can be as small as a few percentage points in the underlying.  The good news is, the risk is usually tiny.  You can put on some butterflies for a dime or 0.15.  This might make you feel better if you're not thoroughly convinced that the market is settling down.  In a wild market, as we've seen, a stock can move a few percentage points in a matter of hours or minutes and in no time you're showing a full loss.  The other drawback is that this is a 4 option play, so commissions can be double a "normal" spread and quadruple that of selling options.

A short calendar spread is very short vega.  It makes sense considering a long calendar spread is very long vega.  A rise in volatility on a calendar spread increases profit, so obviously the inverse is true making a short calendar a candidate if you're expecting volatility to drop substantially.  The draw back to this play is that theta is brutal.  Your profit zones to the right and left of the strike are also relatively small.

Since selling options takes you short vega, selling a straddle is a great way to have lots of vol crush power on your side.  And only one of the options can be assigned, so you have a slight built in hedge in case things go very badly.

Disclaimer: I do not recommend any of these position types, this is strictly pointing out some option position types that may be relevant given the current market conditions.  Always trade on paper until you understand how these positions respond in a real market environment.