海角大神

鈥楾丑别 real moral crime鈥�

The Sept. 11 & 18 cover story, 鈥淥regon鈥檚 bold drug policy isn鈥檛 working, yet,鈥� reminds me that I once was one of those who, while sympathetic, would look down on people who鈥檇 鈥渁llowed鈥� themselves to become addicted to alcohol and/or 鈥渉ard鈥� drugs. Yet I, albeit not in the category of fentanyl use, have suffered enough anxiety related to post-traumatic stress disorder to have appreciated consuming alcohol and/or THC.

Neglecting, and therefore failing, people struggling with debilitating drug addiction should never have been an acceptable or preferable political or religious option. But the politics that are typically involved in lacking addiction funding/services, to me, reflect opposition to making proper treatment available to people with addictions who have little to no income.

It really is as though some people are actually considered disposable.

Even in an otherwise relatively civilized nation, people鈥檚 worth is measured basically by their sober 鈥減roductivity鈥� 鈥� or lack thereof. Those people may then begin perceiving themselves as worthless and accordingly live their daily lives and consume their substances more haphazardly.

Fortunately, the erroneous notion that people with drug addictions are simply weak-willed and/or have committed a moral crime is gradually diminishing. We now know that some pharmaceutical corporations intentionally pushed their very addictive and profitable opiates. I see this as the real moral crime 鈥� one for which they got off relatively lightly, considering the resulting immense suffering and death toll.

Often overlooked is the fact that intense addiction usually doesn鈥檛 originate from boredom, in which a person repeatedly consumed recreationally but became hooked on an unregulated, often deadly, chemical that eventually destroyed their life and even those of loved ones.

Frank Sterle Jr.
White Rock,聽British Columbia

Actions over words?

The cover story 鈥淐ruel summer,鈥� in the Sept. 4 issue should be retitled 鈥淐ruel irony.鈥� People like Kristen Watson at California State University, Bakersfield, along with the California governor, talk about climate change as an existential threat and espouse the need to reduce fossil fuel use, but Stanford University and the University of California just joined the Atlantic Coast Conference. This means their sports teams will fly to East Coast cities instead of West Coast cities, and some East Coast teams will fly to California. San Francisco to Seattle is about 810 miles. San Francisco to Miami is over 3,000 miles.聽

I am sure that people in these California schools see the irony here, yet they allow it anyway. When big public institutions say that climate change is a big deal but then act like it鈥檚 not, it sends a message to the rest of us that maybe we too can act in a similar fashion. Do these collective actions, in turn, spell 鈥済ame, set, and match鈥� for the health of our environment? It鈥檚 not what you say that鈥檚 important; it鈥檚 what you do.聽

Bill Dunnell
Seattle

鈥楤eauty and glory鈥�

Decades ago, I took a forestry course that mentioned the Joshua trees from the article 鈥淯nder threat by fire, Joshua trees battle for survival in the desert鈥� in the Sept. 25 Weekly. After the class, a friend and I flew to California to see them and the bristlecone pines, which are also special because of their great longevity. Your story captures the 鈥渕agic鈥� we both felt. I think, perhaps, it鈥檚 the long-term perspective these trees illustrate that helps to give a new insight into life. It鈥檚 not all hustle and bustle. It鈥檚 beauty and glory.

Rosalie E. Dunbar
Dracut, Massachusetts