To the editor: The real heroin problem
The Chester Telegraph | Mar 18, 2014 | Comments 1
The reason we have a heroin problem in this state and this country is because the U.S. military is guarding the poppy fields in Afghanistan and has helped to increase the production of opium since U.S. occupation.
If Gov. Peter Shumlin really wants to solve the heroin/addiction problem, he should be addressing this issue instead of advocating for treatment that transfers addiction to legal, opiate-based drugs that add billions to the already overflowing coffers of the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies while We the People continue to suffer.
Anything else is just treating the symptom with obfuscation as a tool of rhetoric. Pay close attention to the men behind the curtains, they usually do not have your best interests at heart.
Follow the money, find the truth. Just don’t expect to like it.
Nancy Scarcello
Florence, VT
Filed Under: Commentary • Letters to the Editor
I followed the link to this article out of interest for my home state of Vermont. I grew up in Chester and have many friends throughout the state. I currently serve in the United States Army, and proudly do so.
I was taken aback upon reading this piece. I have seen many of the people I grew up with fall to heroin within the last couple years.
And this is just what I know about it: I understand that this issue is much more deeply seeded that what appears on the outside. I expected some remarks about a people attempting to find a way and a purpose, perhaps a path away from the depression that brings them low enough to even try this addictive drug.
This is a serious problem. With the employment issues ravaging our nation and the uncertainty in this world it can be easy to give up hope on a better world. From my experience, I believe that hopelessness is a huge factor in giving rise to addiction issues of all sorts. In short, I believe we need to attempt to help the people instead of spending our time blaming others for the problem.
As I stated, I am a member of the Army. Everything I am saying here I say on my own accord. It is embarrassing that you have put the onus on the military for the drug problem. Do you really think we are sending brave men and women over there to guard poppy fields?
People are not shot, blown up and captured on account of flowers, I promise you that. We have been largely pulled out of Afghanistan at this point with our budget cuts and troop cuts. We still do our best to keep that nation safe and free of terrorists. I’m not sure if you follow the national news or not but due to the approach of our current administration to the war on terrorism we have been steadily losing ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The men and women who serve in Afghanistan now do so in a limited respect. Mostly we are training the Afghan military at this point. When you take that into consideration with your flat-out statement it almost seems laughable that we would spend time and resources on poppy fields. Yet you have implied that we are do this and that is, it seems, the root cause of the national heroin problem.
The vast majority of us who choose to serve do so because we love our country. When we take the oath to serve, we understand that we will only obey lawful commands. Guarding drug fields is nothing that we would do. If it was done, I’m sure 60 minutes (or some journalistic type program) would do a huge piece on it.
I serve the country in an attempt to keep our freedoms as a people. This includes your right to free speech, and this newspaper’s freedom to publish what they see fit. I am sad that you feel the way you do about the military. I am troubled that instead of taking ownership in an attempt to combat the issue of heroin in our nation, you choose to point the finger of blame while taking no action but to render contempt.
I will continue to serve proudly, and defend these freedoms.
Respectfully yours.