From: Dr. Theodora Saddoris
Columbus
I want all the reporters involved in giving information about the addiction problem in our community to know what a great job they all did. They clearly showed the problem locally and nationally. They gave an unbiased report on the people in our community who have struggled with addiction — but more importantly, how they got their lives back on track and became a vital part of our community.
Those changes didn’t happen overnight. It was the greatest challenge the person had ever faced. Out of that challenge they took their pain and grew a new compassion for others, a desire to reach out and help those who are lost.
The behaviors of addiction do not have to last a lifetime. To see how others have changed gives hope to those in need of recovery that they, too, can get better.
Addiction affects all of us in the community. That is why it is essential we continue treating people too sick to care for themselves. Their lives can make a difference. They can reclaim what was lost and become all that God intended them to become. It is important as a community that we don’t give up on those who have lost their way and provide help in getting their lives back on track. That is why we need housing for those who need help in their recovery, need understanding and support to save those who have overdosed and restore them back to their families, and to the community where they live.
We have to come together as a community to fight this battle that is claiming too many lives and become a beacon of hope to draw those who have lost their way. We need to stop squabbling and letting 100 people in our community, less than 0.2 percent of the Columbus population, keep us from moving forward and provide housing to those in need of help.
The 100 people voicing their concerns are living in the very area where drug dealers are; drug users are everywhere. To have a place that is being monitored, will not increase drug use, it will decrease it. Most of the housing in the area is apartments or rentals.
Let us all become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Every delay means more people will die. People who had hopes and dreams and abilities that are lost forever. Don’t let a temporary problem with addiction become a permanent problem with the death of person’s son, daughter, grandchild, spouse or loved one. We never know what greatness that person could have given to the world — if only someone had cared enough to give them a helping hand when they needed it the most.
