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Opioid Drug Court Has A Chance

To the Reader’s Forum:

I have to disagree with the 86 percent of the respondents who voted no to the question in Monday’s July 10th Post-Journal article, “Will the Buffalo Opioid Court Work?” I feel I can speak from experience on this subject having, lost my son, Terry, 23 years ago to alcohol and drug addiction.

The article in the Monday, July 10th, Post-Journal caught my attention as the best counter to the opioid epidemic I have yet to hear. Simply put, it deals with accountability, the only answer to self-destructive behavior. The $300,000 grant for a three year program seems like a very small amount to help our community solve a very serious problem. The talk about a solution for the drug crisis goes on by politicians. This talk is, in my opinion, rhetoric to gain support of voters for either party, and is not a search for a solution. For several years, my wife and I have and I have worked and made friends with many younger adults through and open gym program. Most are clean and don’t use drugs, but some have not been. We have been heart-broken a few times to see some of these young people fall back into drug addicted patterns.

My son and I struggled for 15 years with his addictions: Jail, detox, rehab, and his traveling across the country, even to California. I was most at peace when he was in jail. It was a sort of accountability. He couldn’t do destructive things or act in a destructive manner. I think a program that aims at keeping addicts alive and providing consistent accountability, if adopted on a large scale, has the best shot at beating the opioid epidemic. Any amount of money would be well spent.

Dennis Wilson

Sinclairville

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