Dear Editor:
I am tired of hearing horror story after horror story about friends that have had their lives destroyed by drugs.
This epidemic is out of control, people are dying by the thousands due to the lack of proper treatment and care for those affected by this plague. If it’s not an overdose, it’s a suicide or arrest. It’s another destroyed relationship. It’s another parent-less child. It’s out of control and it’s heartbreaking.
Every time I hear of another friend lost to addiction, I cringe, I get sad, and then I get angry. How many lives are going to be destroyed by this disease?
It’s not just the addict that suffers in this madness, it’s everybody that encounters them. Almost everybody, these days knows of someone fighting an addiction, and nothing changes. What’s it going to take for this epidemic to get the attention it deserves? People need to stop turning away from the problem and face this it, head on.
Our system is failing everybody that is affected by the unfortunate situation of addiction, and it’s only getting worse. Our jails are bursting at the seams with addicts that need treatment and get nothing while they sit in lock up. Unless you have been locked up, sick, in a little cell, and left to detox on your own, with very little medical attention you can’t understand the pain and guilt that is associated with addiction.
Prison and jail suicide rates are off the charts for this very reason. Most times, an addict needs medical and emotional help, not incarceration. But, our system can’t provide what is needed and just locks people up, it’s tragic and people are dying.
Enough is enough.
Gary Wadzinski, Weston
Editor’s note: The views of our readers are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot and Review. To submit a letter, email [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 532, Wausau, Wis., 54402-0532.
