FACE THE LARGER ISSUES IN ORDER TO COMBAT STATE PRESCRIPTION-DRUG ABUSE

I enjoyed the section, "Home Grown Drug Lords," in the Herald-Leader
on Dec. 7.

I thought the writing and photography were excellent, and the story
that it told was one that impacts us all.

Pine Knot is a beautiful place to live, but like every community out
there, it is not without its social ills. It is sad that our
government does nothing to look at the root causes of why communities
are decaying from drug abuse.

It is sad to watch people destroying their lives and the lives of all
of the people around them. It is sad that economic factors play such a
pivotal role in the whole market that has become the underworld of
society's destruction.

If our government were serious about tackling America's dirty little
drug problem, it would build treatment facilities in places such as
McCreary County to help people who are struggling on the demand side
of the problem, instead of tackling the supply side, which will never
be won.

Drug addiction will never leave us until we start to look at why
people's lives are so devastated that they need the daily kick of
something, or have to struggle to survive in an impoverished community.

I think it is so sad, but when society is in denial, how can it ever
change?

I hope you will do a follow-up piece and examine some of those issues
as well. I just hope people will get the help they need before it is
too late.

James Paulson

Pine Knot