Three Heritage Ranch residents were recently charged by San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow with the tragic death of a 7-month-old infant due to alleged methamphetamine and fentanyl poisoning. On June 4, in Indianapolis, Crystal Martin admitted before a court to giving her 3-year-old son Johnathan Johnson two 100mg pills of Zoloft, an antidepressant drug, before leaving him unsupervised to play near a creek, where he was found face down in 4 feet of water.
Many people are against incarcerating people for drug use because they believe drug use is a “victimless crime.” But child deaths like these are not isolated cases, and the abuse or death of a child due to parental drug use is certainly not “victimless.” Drug and alcohol abuse, especially by parents, profoundly affects all of us. Drug overdoses alone killed a record 80,000-plus last year, leaving approximately 820,000 parents, grandparents, and friends to suffer immeasurable grief. Furthermore, all of the people who love the 40 million Americans currently struggling with and disabled by substance use disorder are also victims.
Our current system that addresses the consequences of drug use, including homelessness, requires a shocking amount of financial and human resources, including but not limited to shelters beds, hospital care, mental health care, long- and short-term treatment, law enforcement and prisons, paramedics and firefighters, social workers, and homes for abandoned children. In some locales, taxpayers now employ one “homeless services” coordinator for every three unsheltered persons. There are many people struggling to keep a roof over their head, but for the vast number of people living unhoused, a roof does not begin to address their very real health problems.
California state data shows that the majority of people living unhoused suffer from an untreated mental illness, substance use disorder, or both. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nine of every 10 people suffering from the incurable chronic brain disease called addiction began using drugs or alcohol before the age of 18. Until K-12 prevention occupies the lion’s share of resources expended, the cycle of disability that results in “homelessness” will never be broken.
Consider for a moment how we feel when we are told that leaving a person on the side of the street with their worldly belongings in plastic bags is “the best that we can do.” It’s reasonable to expect that one of the wealthiest communities in the world would ensure that substance-disabled people are guided into long-term residential treatment and aftercare. Since 2016, San Luis Obispo County has been able to provide assistance through Laura’s Law, which provides such care for people suffering from drug-induced schizophrenia or bi-polar disorders.
It’s similarly reasonable to expect that one of the most advanced countries in the world would choose to prevent the early adolescent substance use that leads to addiction. The United States represents only 4.5 percent of the world’s population, and yet it’s estimated that it consumes 50 to 80 percent of the world’s drugs. Are we content to simply accept the high rate of addiction as a natural consequence of hedonism fed by greed and creative marketing? Or can the most compassionate and cost-effective solution be found in the robust protection of our youth?
Due to normal human brain development, youth are inclined to both peer pressure and risk taking, which can include drug use. During adolescence, our unused brain synapses shrink, and those that remain are strengthened. This puts teens at risk of unwittingly training their brains to become dependent on the chemical reactions caused by drug use. And, regardless of which drug—nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, or prescription opiate—an adolescent uses first, the likelihood that they will use another drug is increased.
Addiction is an early onset adolescent disease, not a character flaw. Therefore, we must stop stigmatizing people caught in the cycle of addiction and get them into treatment because it’s the only debilitating and deadly disease for which people don’t usually want treatment. Drug legalization robs us of the tool that courts need to give people a “nudge from the judge.” Though never curable, addiction can be managed, and people can regain their functionality. There is always hope.
Most importantly, we must invest in real primary prevention, which means reducing the demand for drugs and alcohol created by normalization and widespread commercial exposure in the faces of youth. Over time, this strategy will reduce the rate of substance use disorder that negatively impacts 50 percent of families, and results in hundreds of thousands of us living unsheltered on public property. Δ
Ron Cuff is a retired naval aviator; co-founder of safelaunch.org, a primary prevention initiative; and a former president of the San Luis Obispo Child Abuse Prevention Council. Cuff resides in Paso Robles. Send comments to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jun 17-27, 2021.
Thanks for this article. Two otherwise terrific families I have known have adult children which are now wards of the state because they cannot care for themselves, having become severely dependent on drugs from beginnings in high school, and a third has suffered the suicide of an adult child from an overdose of fentanyl. .
There has to be a middle ground, but the more serious drugs on our streets are so powerful and often lethal that these threats cannot be ignored by the claim that the “drug culture” is “no worse than alcohol.”
I agree with Mr. Ron Cuff!
As the story points out, Ron Cuff is a retired naval aviator; co-founder of safelaunch.org, a primary prevention initiative; and a former president of the San Luis Obispo Child Abuse Prevention Council. His words here should be taken seriously, and our society has gone down the road of drug decriminalization without considering all of the consequences of doing so.
The so-called ‘progressive’ alt left embraces drugs, drug legalization and excusing the conduct of drug-fueled criminals.
“Steve Edwards” is ignorant of the issues he compulsively brays about everywhere on New Times comment threads. He is a white nationalist Trumper who takes every opportunity to scapegoat and demonize his political enemies with lies and incendiary invective. In addition to his cowardice of hiding behind a pseudonym, he takes perverse pleasure in threatening female politicians.
Look how Gordon Faglie has to start calling names. He obviously is SO entrenched in his left wing ISM, that he must not admit the article and author are correct. This scourge is ENCOURAGED by the left wing through decriminalization, legalization and flat out acceptance of the “drug culture”. It gets the democrats votes to back low morality, low information, low class policy. As a mental health care professional and a recovering addict/alcoholic, the article is spot on! Tell the truth my man! By the way….vote Republican in 2022 and forever. The party of law and order, incarceration for dangerous criminals, peace and freedom for all. Individualism not collectivism. TRUTH.
Trumper Troll, “Steve Edwards,” strikes again! Why doesn’t he tell us his real name?
Let me spell it for you: C-O-W-A-R-D.
I AGREE with Silence Dogood!
Gordon Fugly is on the loose, so the sheriff must have emptied the drunk tank, or Gordon is off his meds again. Either way, he should know that there is help for his problems, drug abuse is life abuse.
Our local liberal progressive trolls follow their hero, cocaine addict Adam Hill, into supporting drug legalization, drug use and drug decriminalization, and their drug of choice is usually cocaine or meth. The rest of us in the community understand the danger that drugs pose to our community, and we are unwilling to sell our children into that dark underworld.
The danger of letting the flawed so-called ‘progressive’ viewpoint win out is that they will undertake to lead an American decline, and they know that the way to do it is to ruin our schools with political correctness, get our children into substance abuse, and sell lies to the low information voters. Get it? These people have the wrong prescription for our community and we must reject their polluted values.
Reject BLM/Antifa Stupidity
Reject Failed Troll Artists
Stop Open Border/Sanctuary City
End Baby Killing Abortion
No Drug Legalization
Drug Use is Child Abuse
Vote Out Heidi Harmon
Reject Troll Cancel Culture
Blue Lives Matter
RIP Brave Officer Luca Benedetti
Support Israel Over Hamas Terrorists
Say No To Drugs
Prosecute Cartel Drug Importers
The legal use of alcohol has not stopped a single judge from sentencing an alcoholic to “90 meetings in 90 days” where they are sure to hear their own story of alcohol addiction from someone else prompting them to consider their own plight more realistically and take the “steps” outlined by A.A. [and now N.A.] to control their substance use.
Don’t blame ending Prohibition for the failure of the “Drug War”.
What is needed is “decimalizing” of all substance use so “users’ have quick and easy access to recovery programs. An end to “”not in my yard” attitudes toward treatment centers and clean and sober living residences might help as well
I would invite my libertarian friend to suggest who should pay for those treatment and recovery centers she so enthusiastically advocates for? As a good libertarian, you do believe that the addicted person ought to pay their own way, correct?
To enlighten you, the whiny so-called ‘progressive’ liberals think that all drugs should be available, but TAXPAYERS ought to pay the price for their addiction. They want TAXPAYERS to fund the sober living house, treatment centers and rehabilitation facilities. They want taxpayers to pay for mental health hospitalizations when they become schizophrenics. Does that mesh with your libertarian leanings?
Should taxpayers fund their lifetime disability because now they cannot work? I’d love to know!
The problem with the drug/alcohol crowd is they want to screw their life up, then advocate that the rest of us pay for their mistake. I guess that my reluctance to support the expansion of drug and alcohol use in our society is rooted in the social destruction that the resulting effects inevitably bring on. For example, while about 12% of regular alcohol users become addicted, nearly 94% of regular meth users become addicted. Does my libertarian friend believe in taxpayer-funded programs for these addicts? How about everyone who believes in decriminalization just write out a personal check to fund the programs for the addicted?
“You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choices”.
Love thy neighbor.
By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom. -Proverbs 13:10
Yes, Love thy neighbor, but that doesn’t mean we can’t expect them to act like decent human beings. We are called to love the sinner, but hate the sin, and this applies to BLM rioters and looters, cop killers, drug bums, Antifa hooligans who throw skateboards through car windows, smashing glass onto babies, those who troll others, and liberal political leaders, who encourage their low-information dupes to act out on sick fantasies.
Get it? It’s novel to quote the Bible, but you also must live its teachings.
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. -1 Peter 2:1
Steve Edwards, Joseph McCarthy and domestic terrorism
Read the words of So-called Steve Edwards in this context:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/s…
There remains a significant reward for anybody who, by September 1, 2021 publicly reveals the true identity of the person or persons who goes by the name of Steve Edwards and posts white supremacist and domestic terrorist rhetoric throughout the central coast.
Let us strive to prevent domestic terrorism before it happens.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/s…
I and millions of other clear thinking americans are…..STEVE EDWARDS!!!!!!!!!¡!
Kiss my ass rightword2
Steve Edwards for Supervisor. The candidate for voters who think Lynn Compton isn’t Trumpy enough.
Steve Edwards for Supervisor for voters who want leaders who spread hate and animosity throughout the community. Steve Edwards for Supervisor for voters who don’t mind being lied to. Steve Edwards, the white supremacists choice for leader ship on the central coast.
Steve Edwards for Supervisor because he needs a job. Steve Edwards for Supervisor even if he doesn’t live in San Luis Obispo County.
I and millions of other clear thinking Americans are…..STEVE EDWARDS!!!!!!!!!¡!
I need to thank my ‘friend’, Rightword, for the free rent in his head, it must be hard using lot’s of words to say absolutely nothing! I guess I would just encourage him to get help for any mental health issues he has, or perhaps he has a substance abuse issue that is debilitating him?
As other posters so eloquently point out, there are lot’s of me in the world. We are working class people, law abiding and supportive of good, responsible government. We reject the idealogical extremes, reject communism, and are unwilling to let alt-left extremist impose their dark vision for our community and country, America is worth standing up for.
The radical left seeks to further decriminalize drugs, and our children deserve to be protected from serious drugs, not introduced to them. The cost of drug abuse in our community is significant, and we see broken lives and broken families as a result of addiction. In calling for more taxpayer-supported drug rehabilitation clinics, the leftists want to allow the drug pushers (legal and illegal) to privatize their profits from selling drugs and socialize the cost of the drug abuse onto all taxpayers.
I say let the people who seek to spread substance abuse in our community pay for the response necessary to deal with the problems they encourage, average taxpayers should not have to pay for this nonsensical behavior.
“You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your behavior”.
I and millions of other clear thinking Americans are…..STEVE EDWARDS!!!!!!!!!¡!
Steve Edwards for Supervisor, picking up where coronavirus left off!
Steve Edwards for Supervisor. If you like Vladimir Putin, you will love Steve Edwards!
Thanks again for the free-rent in your head, Rightweird!
Drug abuse is life abuse.
We owe our children a better example than embracing drug addiction over sobriety, and we must push back against the alt-left Progressive/Communist zeal for drug legalization. It is madness, and no society has ever prospered by choosing toxicity over clear-mindedness.
What’s even more appalling and inappropriate than providing ready-access to harmful drugs is seeing the whacky liberals then turn around and put the rest of us ion a guilt trip for not funding their visit to rehabilitation and drug abuse counseling, they act as if it our fault. Nonsense!
They are free to choose, but they are not free from the consequences of their choices.
The push for free drugs, and free rehab is part of the progressive/socialists/communists attempt to bring down America, and good citizens push back against their nonsense and nihilist values. The weirdos plot to ruin our country by infesting our schools and children with political correctness and indoctrination, wide supplies of drugs, and attacking the free market economy and stopping job creators.
Get it? We must say NO to these people, and prevent their scheme for American Decline.
Steve Edwards for Supervisor..,.Who cares if he doesnt live in San Luis Obispo County?
Steve Edwards for Supervisor! He needs a job!
Folks,
Rightwords mom shouldve thrown him away and kept the stork, lol.
What have we learned about the whacky alt-lefts determination to legalize all drugs:
1. The drug people want US to fund their drug rehab/unemployment/lifetime disability due to drug use.
2. Societys that legalized drug use saw a decline in productivity, health and life-expectancy.
3. Children deserve a better example than a society where the adults are inebriated/drug addicted.
4. Drug use is life abuse, and often leads to child abuse.
5. The whacky alt-left wants drugs, because they support American Decline.
Progressivism=Socialism=Communism. Same Loser Ideologies. Progressivism=Socialism=Communism.