Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
•••
I read the editorial "A promising young life derailed by cannabis" (March 16), and I sighed. I'm a baby boomer. I've heard these stories for longer than many of your readers have been alive, and I have to tell you, some people try things, and it leads to their deaths. There's a chance that when you first go sky diving or scuba-diving that you panic and die. There's a chance that you die of a panic attack on a roller coaster.
There is inherent risk in many activities. Yet we grant adults the right to do them at their own peril. That's called freedom.
Eliot Axelrod, Bloomington
•••
Thank you very much for your follow-up with the Mayberry family and this very informative and poignant editorial.
I was not at all aware of this danger, and this young woman's and her family's story definitely needed to be heard in the legislative rush to legalize marijuana for the significant tax revenue it will generate.
David Leitschuh, Loveland, Colo.
•••
Regarding "A promising young life derailed by cannabis": With all due respect, it's not about the weed.
My first reaction upon reading the article was expressing my deepest sympathies to the parents and other loved ones who lost such a wonderful human being. The combination of feeling the pain of the loss in the article, plus my own experiences still being very raw, has resurfaced deep emotions.
But with all due respect, in my view the article misses the real issue. This is not because of I disagree with the stated risks of marijuana use to a small number of people, which I trust are grounded in sound research, but because legalization of weed will not materially increase the number of people using it. Heck, it was easy to get in the 1960s and '70s, and almost all of us who started in high school and continued in college are doing just fine. Interesting in how back then the argument against it was that it was a steppingstone to acid, heroin and other really bad stuff.
Today, it is even easier to get, while the bigger problem in my opinion is that in the dealer's foot locker there is probably also Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin or any of the "legal" prescription drugs filling our schools that the pharmaceutical industry keeps pumping out and greasing physicians to prescribe.
On a related note concerning illegal dealers: With legalization you know exactly what you are getting and don't need to risk buying the unknown and unregulated off the street, in potentially unsafe environments, where it could be laced with anything, including fentanyl, crack or just about any old junk.
I have been closely involved with people suffering from mental health and/or mood disorders, both in my personal life and over 25 years of corporate management, and from my perspective trying to understand and help are the most challenging and gut-wrenching situations to deal with. The hurt and suffering that especially young people are going through, and that drives them into these escape mechanisms, is in my view what the thrust of the editorial should really be about.
Christopher H. Jones, Minnetonka
•••
I was a chemical dependency counselor for 15 years. I saw my share of opioid addiction horrors. Recently, the figure of 100,000 has been used to quantify drug overdose deaths last year. That's horrible and heartbreaking. The outcry is justifiable.
But people seem to forget the scourge of alcoholism. More people die from alcoholism than opioid addiction each year and the deaths are equally ugly. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the number of alcohol-related deaths was 108,791 in 2021. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 140,000 deaths related to excessive alcohol use occurred each year from 2015-2019. That's about 380 deaths per day. Some people turn green or gray and/or must have their abdomens drained of fluid because of liver failure; some drink despite the risk of being thrown off the liver transplant list or losing their careers or their marriages; some die in alcohol withdrawal and some by suicide due to their alcoholism.
I could go on with countless more examples of the horrors of alcoholism. Thus, an equal outcry is deserved for the carnage that alcoholism leaves in its wake.
Michael B. Braman, Minneapolis
MENTAL HEALTH
Interrupt the downward spiral
As a mental health advocate, I have heard stories from families with very similar experiences to what Mindy Greiling, Ron Latz and Norman Ornstein describe ("We must be able to help those who don't know they need it," Opinion Exchange, March 7). Loved ones in psychosis experience a terrifying and bewildering set of symptoms — paranoia, delusions, hallucinations — and many do not recognize that they are ill and in need of treatment. When treatment is refused or unavailable, what can follow is a downward spiral of episodic emergency care, homelessness and incarceration. It's deplorable that our jails have become the holding tank and hospital overflow for many people living with untreated serious mental illnesses. Commitment orders can interrupt this pattern and make a difference. However, all too often they are not enforced and unfortunately, engagement services that are intended to help are unfunded. The bill provides the resources and accountability needed to help stop the heartless and costly cycle of "fail, jail, treat, street."
Joan Cleary, St. Paul
•••
Unlike most residents of big cities, rural citizens of Minnesota may not have access to mental health services they need based on their ZIP code. A bill titled HF 586 seeks to serve the needs of rural Minnesotans by addressing this disparity, but the support from Minnesotans in larger cities is needed. Data highlights published by the Minnesota Department of Health in 2021 indicate that in metropolitan areas, the ratio is one behavioral health provider for every 2,835 people. However, the ratio in rural areas widens to one provider for every 13,519 people.
In annually appropriating $750,000 for two years, funding will be sufficient for the establishment of the Center for Rural Behavioral Health at Minnesota State University, Mankato. This bill would allow for this community behavioral health center and training clinic to be able to provide mental health and substance use disorder treatment services in Blue Earth County and the surrounding region.
As both a student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and someone with family roots in rural Minnesota, I believe that passing this bill would be an effective use of Minnesota's monetary resources and a way to promote the well-being of all Minnesotans. As of publication, this bill sits within the Human Services Finance Committee. The chair of this committee, Rep. Mohamud Noor, represents citizens of Minneapolis. I encourage those reading to reach out to Rep. Noor and other members of the Human Services Finance Committee to promote the onward advancement of this bill.
Victoria Meyer, Chaska
TRANS CARE
Let Minnesotans thrive
Although the letter writer of "Kids can't consent to this" (Readers Write, March 13) and many of us believed in Santa at age 6, we probably didn't have "other" feelings tugging at us. I have read that many children knew at an early age that they were "different." Ask a gay/lesbian person when they knew they were gay and many will say at a young age or that they always knew.
My point is that not everyone is the same. A 6-year-old may not need hormone therapy, but may feel "different" and need the love and support of a nonjudgmental family and community unwilling to rip that child out of the safety of his or her parents' home — thus allowing that kid to be a kid, his or her way. Republicans think they know better how we should live our lives and try to force us to robotically acquiesce to their beliefs by passing laws based on what they want. I applaud Gov. Tim Walz for protecting children and families with a safe haven!
Karen Luoma-Varichak, Minneapolis
