Opioid epidemic touches us all
It is commendable that Gov. Tom Wolf wants to call a special session to address opioid addiction. It is beyond time for a solution. That solution is a paradigm shift in perception.
Instead of stigmatizing addicts, consider addicts a great asset. Valuing every addict’s unfulfilled potential is the pragmatic approach. Doing so would positively affect every Pennsylvanian’s life.
Proactively, the entire psychology must ascend from the effects to the causes. The prevailing wind across the country is to increase funding for treatment. As stately as it is to set the commonwealth’s sails according to that wind, it’s a reactive voyage to nowhere.
There are causes of active addiction. Inherent are deeper issues, such as guilt, insecurities and trauma. The paramount fact to accept is that drug users rarely foresee becoming addicts and never anticipate becoming involved in criminal activity.
The justice, prison, parole and probation systems are all perpetuating the addiction cycle. Belief in confinement and, as counterintuitive as this is, supervision as a cure-all is archaic.
The impact of this epidemic touches us all. Inevitably, it will burn us all if left unsolved.
James Friel
Waynesburg