Dear Editor:

Recently, the governor made a statement regarding heroin users that could be interpreted in more than one way. The first interpretation most people ran to was that saving a life was different than extending a life.

All life saving events – a man rescues a boy in a burning car, a surgeon saves a child from a gunshot wound, even the miracle of Christ bringing back to life a son, are all lives that were extended. All life in the world is measured by the time spent on earth. All earthly life eventually ends.

The confusion in the governor’s case began with the staged question itself — “Does drug treatment work, Mr. Governor?” What did they mean by treatment or work? Without that defined, the politician can be both correct and wrong, leaving the audience in confusion, or jumping to conclusions that are often erroneous.

There are two statements we are given that could both be accurate and yet like the question could contain incomplete accuracy. The politician states “Ninety percent of heroin users eventually die as a result of their addiction.” Centers for Disease Control has said that the use of naloxone by non-emergency personnel alone has reversed at least 26,463 overdoses between 1996 and June 2014. The first has no time frame and could include users without access to naloxone. The second is far more specific down to dates and who administers the drug making it the most accurate statement of fact.

Perhaps the real problem sits with those who prescribe opioids. CDC reports in 2010 enough opioid or narcotic pain killers were prescribed to medicate every American around the clock for a month. Nearly 15,000 people die every year of overdoses involving prescription painkillers.

In the end extending lives is saving lives – a goal to be lauded.

Jarryl Larson
Edgecomb