This is a response to an Oct. 3 letter, “City code not worth the ink if clinic is built in Sequim,” nay-saying the medication-assisted treatment healing endeavor formed by local hospitals through partnership with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.
First, please note the letter writer does not speak for all citizens of all of Sequim — only the ones misinformed.
Second, critical thinking demands we understand not all addicts are wayfaring homeless navigating mental illness by self-medicating.
Due to Big Pharma drugs just out of trials, plenty of God-fearing, hardworking, regular folk, walk away from surgeries unable to quit dangerous pain killers; regular people can become addicted to pain medication after surgeries.
Third, no mama with a broken leg set to heal, nor dada with a back lacking spinal discs made stable with metal rods, both unintentionally addicted to pain meds, is a nuisance degrading land value.
Healing folk value their neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods like the kind ones in Sequim take care of one another with respect and dignity, which is the mission of the new treatment center.
Although there are, due to population growth, addicts coming out of the woodwork all over America and the world, including the Peninsula, critical thinking demands we understand homelessness and addiction are two separate problems for humanity to solve.
The mission of the new treatment center is set to heal local folks.
Healing is the shared goal between not only local hospitals and the Jamestown S’Klallam, but all humane citizens anywhere they stand.
Toni O’Connell,
Sequim