On this International Overdose Awareness Day, Aug. 31, we honor those lost to the opioid crisis. This day hits close to home for Chicago’s West Side residents like me. In neighborhoods such as Austin, Lawndale and West Garfield, open-air drug markets have made recovery difficult for those with substance use disorders. My family has experienced the tragic loss of loved ones to heroin and opioids — losses that should not be inevitable.
Mourning alone isn’t enough. It’s time to act. I’m calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker to support Illinois House Bill 2 and its vital amendments. This bipartisan bill would establish a pilot overdose prevention site on the West Side of Chicago, where medically supervised drug use could save lives and connect individuals to treatment and recovery services. This site would be a crucial step forward, demonstrating that overdose prevention facilities are our best harm reduction tools. They should not be seen as radical but as a courageous and necessary measure.
Overdose prevention sites are already saving lives in cities worldwide. Vancouver’s Insite, the first legal supervised consumption site in North America, opened in 2003 and is credited with reducing overdose deaths and providing thousands of referrals to treatment. In Europe, cities such as Zurich; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Barcelona, Spain, have implemented similar facilities, preventing fatalities and helping people regain control of their lives.
The benefits extend beyond saving lives. Environmentally, these sites reduce discarded needles and drug paraphernalia in public spaces, making communities cleaner and safer. They also reduce public drug use and alleviate pressure on sanitation services.
Financially, overdose prevention sites make sense. They reduce the need for emergency services, such as ambulance and emergency room visits, and help prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C, saving millions in health care costs. Tracking treatment referrals and recovery success also helps improve responses to the opioid crisis.
This epidemic is not just a local issue — it’s an international problem. Solutions must start with leadership at home. Today, we mourn those lost, but we must also act. Chicago has the chance to lead by establishing a pilot overdose prevention site on the West Side that saves lives and offers hope to communities affected by addiction.
Some may call this a radical bill, but we call it a righteous, bipartisan bill.
— State Rep. La Shawn K Ford, 8th District
Drug crisis needs attention
The nonpartisan Pew Research Center has identified drug addiction as the fourth-highest concern among Americans, behind the cost of living, political rancor and medical care. You can see this expressed throughout the rural U.S., with billboards advertising treatment centers and criminal penalties for narcotics. The issue is bipartisan: Large numbers of Democratic and Republican voters identify this as important to them. And they are right to be worried. Drug poisoning took more lives (more than 100,000) than COVID-19 last year and double the number of gun-related deaths over the same period.
And yet the two major parties had little to say about the issue at their conventions. The GOP mainly used narcotics deaths as a proxy to go after the Democrats on immigration. The Democrats don’t seem to have addressed it at all, at least in prime time.
If Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are truly interested in being a ticket for all Americans, I would urge them to take this on. They should commit not only to create a Cabinet-level position to address addiction and its causes, but also to pledge to appoint a retired Republican officeholder to take charge of it. It would be the right and bipartisan thing to do.
— Paul W. Mollica, Chicago
Corruption series incomplete
The Sunday centerpiece “Our culture of corruption” provides both a service and a disservice to readers in Chicago and throughout the state. While a useful collection of examples as an introduction to a new series, it ignores almost all matters of time, historical and social context, and, most importantly, relevant comparisons.
I write as an urban historian who attended Northwestern University from 1967 to 1970 and had dealings with the Richard J. Daley administration and his private collaborators. I lived in the Near North and Old Town neighborhoods from 1979 to 1981 while I was a research fellow at the Newberry Library. My wife and I are in the process of moving back to Chicago.
First, the article pays no attention to chronology or comparisons. It is impossible to shift from mid-19th to mid-20th and early 21st century examples from paragraph to paragraph. Each case calls for context. That is imperative.
Second, comparison is absent. There is no reason to believe that Chicago and Illinois have experienced more corruption than, for example, New York City and New York state; Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania; Detroit and Michigan; Los Angeles and California; New Orleans and Louisiana; or almost any other large city. There are no major U.S. cities or any states that lack a history of political and economic, let alone social and cultural, corruption. Why does the lead article ignore comparisons and relevant questions? Chicago and Illinois are not unique. They are typical.
Finally and most important is the issue of explanation. The reporters cannot simply refer to a nonhistorical statement from the 1966 book “American Federalism: A View from the States” by Daniel Elazar that refers to “three political cultures”: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. All major U.S. cities and states are traditionalistic and individualistic. They all claim to be moralistic. All such designations are worse than useless. They are without research, evidence and historical development.
I ask that the continuing series pay attention to both past and present realities.
— Harvey J. Graff, professor, Columbus, Ohio
Losing family-run drugstores
I totally related to Clifton Truman Daniel’s op-ed about Tarpey’s drugstore (“Saying goodbye to longtime Chicago family pharmacy Tarpey’s,” Aug. 24). This made me remember independent drugstores as yet another treasure that quietly disappeared in America.
My first “real job” was at Nielsen’s Pharmacy on Northwest Highway in Park Ridge around 1953. We had the soda fountain for milkshakes, sodas, ice cream, etc., and a telephone booth, cigar counter and newspaper rack — all the good things people wanted. The “kid” ran the store while the assistant pharmacist was in the back room with his feet on the desk smoking a cigar.
The same people would come in every day. This was a friendly place to visit. (I still remember two little girls who often came just for a soda.) And I tried to guess what customers wanted by the looks on their faces. (I scored 95%!) That experience helped me interact effectively with people for the rest of my life.
One day, I noticed Nielsen’s was gone when I drove down Northwest Highway and into Park Ridge. It was bad that Nielsen’s Pharmacy was gone, but even the premises were different.
Everything changes — and not necessarily for the good.
— Robert C. McCullough, Des Plaines
Chicago concert unforgettable
Last Saturday, my daughter, my 8-year-old granddaughter and I attended P!nk’s concert at Soldier Field. It was wonderful to be back home in the city I grew up near — the extraordinary buildings, the people, the sights and sounds, and the electric feeling everywhere we were. Our night was extraordinary and a memory we’ll share forever.
I especially want to thank the scores of Chicago police officers who were ever present. I know the dynamics of the city have changed greatly since I lived in the area, but I never once felt we were at risk, and I am ever so grateful for the effort put forth by the Chicago Police Department of keeping a watchful eye while Chicago was overflowing with thousands of concertgoers and a massive number of others simply enjoying what your beautiful city has to offer.
Thank you again for the hospitality extended to us. It did not go unnoticed.
— Cindy Stevenson, Bettendorf, Iowa
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