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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2015)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 29, 2015 Combating addiction takes science, awareness A ccording to Dwight Holton, many modern tragedies begin with an DGGLFWLRQ Crime, mental health breakdowns, even suicide and homicide can often be traced back to a pill or a poison — some brains are just wired to be susceptible to outside LQÀXHQFH$QGPDQ\RIWKH systems of care and punishment our society has in place don’t do much to get to the root of the problem, or save people who are in danger of hurting WKHPVHOYHVRURWKHUV Holton is a former federal SURVHFXWRUDQG2UHJRQ¶V86 DWWRUQH\,QWKDWOLQHRIZRUN by the time he got involved LWZDVWRRODWH6RPHRQHKDG already been hurt, bad decisions had been made, lives had been LPSDFWHGIRUWKHZRUVH In 2014 he took over as director of Lines for Life, a 3RUWODQGEDVHGQRQSUR¿WWKDW has twin goals of preventing VXEVWDQFHDEXVHDQGVXLFLGH+H wanted to get involved early, to prevent the bad decisions LQWKH¿UVWSODFH$QGZKLOHLW PLJKWVHHPDW¿UVWJODQFHWKDW substance abuse and suicide are different threats, Holton said they are nearly always LQWHUWZLQHG In the course of his new work, he quickly realized that the major source of substance abuse problems in Oregon FRPHIURPSUHVFULSWLRQSLOOV They kill more Oregonians — hundreds a year — than DOOLOOHJDOGUXJV+ROWRQVDLG a major factor may be that Oregonians think prescription pills are safer than they DFWXDOO\DUH:HWKLQNKHFN these things are legal, they are given to me by my doctor DQGWKH\PDNHPHIHHOEHWWHU What’s the downside? Addiction can cause people to do terrible things outside their own nature – to lie and cheat and embezzle and burgle and assault and even NLOO7KH\PD\JHWVWXFNLQD cycle of depression and broken UHODWLRQVKLSV So how can the state reduce the number of people laid low by prescription pills? Holton’s plan is to reduce the number of prescribed but unnecessary RSLRLGV&XUUHQWO\PLOOLRQ such pills are prescribed in 2UHJRQHDFK\HDU+HDOVR wants more places where patients can dispose of unused PHGLFLQHV,QDGGLWLRQ+ROWRQ VHHVWKHEHQH¿WRIEHWWHU treatment and less-addictive YHUVLRQVRIWKHPHGLFDWLRQ There is a lot to talk through and plenty to think about, which is why Holton has taken his crew on the URDG7KH\PHWUHFHQWO\LQ/D Grande to start a discussion about identifying best SUDFWLFHVDFURVVWKHVWDWH There is no easy answer to the problem of prescription GUXJV6FLHQFHFRQWLQXHVWR learn more about addiction, DQGFRQWLQXHVWR¿QHWXQH medicines to reduce the likelihood they will be PLVXVHG 2QH¿UVWVWHSPXVWEH to boost awareness of how dangerous prescription opioids FDQEH8VHWKHPRQO\ZKHQ necessary, discard them when you’re through, and if you think you have a problem get help LPPHGLDWHO\/LQHVIRU/LIH (call the helpline at 1-800-923- LVDJUHDWSODFHWRVWDUW Blue Mountain EAGLE 195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845 541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244 Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper USPS 226-340 John Day, Oregon MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT E DITORIAL A SSISTANT C OMMUNITY N EWS S PORTS M ARKETING R EP C USTOMER S ERVICE R EP Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Scotta Callister, editor@bmeagle.com Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY: EO Media Group 3HULRGLFDOV3RVWDJH3DLGDW-RKQ'D\DQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County Elsewhere in Oregon Continental U.S., Outside Oregon Outside Continental U.S. 1 year $40.00 $48.00 $55.00 $60.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Blue Mountain Eagle on the Internet www.MyEagleNews.com POSTMASTER — send address changes to Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. Grant County should take lead … and talk about it perience the high- est rate of intimate partner violence, The children and teens of to- almost triple the GD\DUHRXUKRSHIRUWRPRUURZ,W¶V QDWLRQDO DYHUDJH important for us as caring adults, Victims of sexual parents and communities to help assault – includ- Matt set young people on the path for a ing teenagers and Ipson healthy future and support them as young adults – may WKH\ZRUNWRFUHDWHSRVLWLYHFKDQJH face long-lasting April is Sexual Assault Aware- HIIHFWV 6H[XDO YLROHQFH DOVR KDV ness Month, and this year it is im- a profound impact on a victim’s portant that we take this time to re- family, friends, neighbors, and the member that sexual abuse is not just FRPPXQLW\DWODUJH D SUREOHP IRU DGXOWV 7KURXJKRXW By learning and talking about this month, It’s time ... to talk about healthy adolescent sexuality, adults it! This campaign encourages indi- are able to support the teens in their viduals and communities to support OLYHV,W¶VWLPHIRUDGXOWVDQGFRP- KHDOWK\VH[XDOGHYHORSPHQW munities to be a resource to teens Young people face many chal- VRWKH\OHDUQDQGJURZ OHQJHV GXULQJ DGROHVFHQFH 6WH- Grant County should take the lead reotypes and negative messages in in raising awareness and preventing the media don’t make this process VH[XDOYLROHQFH HDV\ How can we support teens during Girls and young women be- this time of change and discovery? tween the ages of 16 and 24 ex- Young people need age-appropriate By Matt Ipson To the Blue Mountain Eagle Access at risk information about healthy sexuality DQGUHODWLRQVKLSVIURPWUXVWHGDGXOWV 7KH¿UVWVWHSLVWRVWDUWDQRSHQDQG KRQHVWGLDORJXH$VNTXHVWLRQVDQG PRVWLPSRUWDQWO\OLVWHQ:HFDQDOO play a role in modeling healthy be- haviors, promoting positive skills, DQGFUHDWLQJVDIHHQYLURQPHQWV,W¶V important to empower the voices of youth and challenge negative, un- KHDOWK\PHVVDJHV ,W¶V2.LI\RXGRQ¶WKDYHDOOWKH DQVZHUV,W¶VPRUHLPSRUWDQWWRZHO- FRPH TXHVWLRQV DQG OHDUQ WRJHWKHU To create a vision for a future with- out sexual violence, every voice can play a role in a healthier, safer to- PRUURZIRUDOO You can use your voice to start WKH FRQYHUVDWLRQ <RX FDQ VXSSRUW the voices of young people, and to- gether we can amplify our voices for DKHDOWK\IXWXUH It’s time ... to talk about it! – Matt Ipson is the deputy district attorney for Grant County. L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR To the Editor: What the government giveth, the JRYHUQPHQW WDNHWK DZD\ .HHS WKDW in mind after you have read the April LVVXHRIWKH%OXH0RXQWDLQ(DJOH What gave me a chuckle is the statement by one letter writer that the Grant County Ordinance 2013-01, designed to protect our forest access, was only signed by the three on the &RXQW\ &RXUW DQG VKHULII $UH \RX aware that our entire forest access can be wiped out with the signature of one man? That signature is attached to 300- plus pages of indecipherable docu- ments compiled by a staff of which 90 percent are not from this area and are lacking knowledge and under- standing of our unique forest, histo- U\DQGFLWL]HQV The “kiss and make up” approach to a solution comes much too late, ZLWK WRR OLWWOH 7KH ³SDUWLHV RXWVLGH of Grant County” that the writer fears may make decisions affecting RXU FRXQW\ DUH DOUHDG\ KHUH 7KH\ are called the Blue Mountains Forest Partners whose leadership originated out of state and from Oregon’s met- ropolitan areas, following the dollar LQRXUORFDOHFRQRP\ Congress has messed with our Constitution so much that nothing is clear anymore, except for the fact that we, the people, are not part of their agenda that continues to smell OLNH$JHQGD Bob Kerr Canyon City The movie math To the Editor: Some time in the last few days, someone put an entry on Facebook about how they missed the theaters WKDW XVHG WR EH KHUH LQ -RKQ 'D\ They told how they enjoyed going to the theaters on the weekends with all WKHIDPLO\HWFDQGWKH\VXUHZLVKHG WKHWKHDWHUVZHUHVWLOODURXQG Well, folks, it wasn’t our dru- thers to close the theaters – walk-in and drive-in – but it got to the point where we just couldn’t keep the OLJKWV RQ DQ\ ORQJHU <HV LW¶V EHHQ some time since we were in opera- tion, and people are still telling us KRZWKH\PLVVWKHWKHDWHUV But what it came down to is, that there was not enough business to VXSSRUW WKH RSHUDWLRQ ,I ZH ZRXOG have had 15,000 people to draw IURPZHPLJKWKDYHPDGHLWZRUN A handful of patrons coming to the theater a couple times a year just ZDVQ¶WHQRXJK We survived television, home movies, DVDs and all that, but we couldn’t overcome Dish and Direct and any other satellite company that PLJKWEHRXWWKHUH3HRSOHFRXOGSXW up a dish anywhere in the county and stay home with a bunch of friends DQGZDWFKZKDWHYHUWKH\ZDQWHGWR So when you are taking in $20 dol- lars and spending $50 to stay open, well ask any mathematician, it can’t EHGRQH:HZHUHIRUFHGWRFORVH We could not have stayed in busi- ness anyway when the movie indus- try forced every theater to change to digital projectors to the tune of HDFK ,W IRUFHG WKH FORVXUH of a lot of small theaters, and those that were able to survive did so with WKH¿QDQFLDOKHOSRIWKHLUORFDOFRP- PXQLWLHV :H DUH WUXO\ VRUU\ $QG DV ZH VDLGLWZDVQ¶WRXUGUXWKHUV:HKRSH WKLVH[SODQDWLRQKHOSV Dean and Betty Elliott Canyon City Perils of pot? To the Editor: Last October Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Wolkes ruled that neither Oregon law pertaining to so called medical marijuana prohib- its cities from prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in their juris- GLFWLRQV The term “medical marijuana” LV D VFDP DQG VXEWHUIXJH$V D year former resident of Burns I con- VLGHUHG 6HQ )HUULROL DV RXU IULHQG so why has he seemed not only to VXSSRUW WKH LQÀX[ RI GRSH LQWR WKH communities but has introduced legislation to speed it up? To the senator’s credit he did attempt to in- troduce legislation prohibiting pack- aging of so-called medical marijuana products directed towards children, which was strongly and unbeliev- ably rejected by the Democrats, led E\ 6HQ )OR\G 3UR]DQVNL 7KDW WHOOV XVWKHPLQGVHWRIWKH'HPRFUDWV :K\ GRHV 6HQ )HUULROL WKLQN VR many people are on welfare even when jobs become available? Be- cause many are addicted to marijua- na which is more important to them then their spouses, their children or getting clean so they can pass a GUXJWHVWDQGJHWDJRRGMRE,VDQ\ responsible employer is going to risk the liability and hire marijuana-laced employees to operate equipment or interact with customers? Of course QRW The politicians may not under- stand the terrible long-term conse- quences of their actions; they may have been bought and paid for, as history has shown to occur numer- RXV WLPHV RU WKH\ MXVW GRQ¶W FDUH What other reasons could there be for these stands? Because two or three large-population drug-infested ultra-liberal counties voted for (mar- ijuana legalization) … really, give us a break! The families of Grant County, as all Oregonians, expect their children to go to school without being intro- GXFHGWRGRSH:LWKWKHODUJHLQÀX[ of drugs into the communities, chil- dren will steal their addicted parent’s marijuana and bring it to school to VKDUH ZLWK HYHU\RQH 7KH GRSH DO- ways ends up in the hands of the children – always! Frank C. Gardner Fernley, Nev. W HERE TO WRITE Washington, D.C. The White House, 1600 Pennsyl- YDQLD$YH 1: :DVKLQJWRQ '& 20500; Phone-comments: 202-456- 6ZLWFKERDUG 866HQ5RQ:\GHQ'² +DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ:DVK- LQJWRQ '& 3KRQH L (PDLO ZD\QHBNLQQH\# Z\GHQVHQDWHJRY :HE VLWH KWWS Z\GHQVHQDWHJRY )D[ 866HQ-HII0HUNOH\'² +DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ:DVK- LQJWRQ '& " 3KRQH (PDLOVHQDWRU#PHUNOH\ VHQDWHJRY )D[ 2UHJRQ RI¿FHV LQFOXGH 2QH :RUOG 7UDGH&HQWHU6:6DOPRQ6W Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; DQG6(6HFRQG6W6XLWH 3HQGOHWRQ 25 3KRQH )D[ etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.