SUN Sailor Editions St. Louis Park | Page 4

Opinions Sun Sailor Newspapers encourages the free and open expression of ideas and opinions. To that end, we welcome letters to the editor and guest columns from members of the community on issues of local importance. Commentaries can be sent to [email protected]. ST. L OU IS PARK (21030) sailor.mnsun.com Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 • Page 4 Opioids are killing our neighbors After her fourth major back surgery and enough chronic pain to fell an elephant, it would have been easy for my wife to succumb to the preferred route of treatment: pre- scription painkillers. As a nurse she had seen and helped treat numerous patients who had been through simi- lar back surgeries and she also saw how easy it was to slide into the trap of masking pain with a drug. Her solution was to avoid the drugs, accept a certain level of lifelong distress and exercise her way through the rest. It has not been easy, but the alternative is a pos- sible freefall into a very dark hole. Still, it would be near- ly impossible for anyone coming out of a surgery to not utilize some form of a pharmaceutical so- lution. The pain is simply too severe. It’s the weeks and months after surgery that become critical for many. Most can wean themselves off. But the addictive nature of some drugs can be overwhelm- ing. For the past 20 years our nation has been un- der attack by opioids. In Minnesota alone, 422 people died in 2017 as a result of opioid overdose. That is approximately a 300 percent increase from 2003 opioid deaths, according to data from the CDC. Nationally, the num- bers are staggering. In 2003, 12,940 people died from opioid overdose. By 2017, that number had skyrocketed to 47,600. The illegally produced drug heroin has also be- come a big killer because of its availability and cost. It is often a next step for addicts when they get cut off from prescription meds. It claimed more than 15,482 lives in 2017. In 2003, 2,080 people died of heroin overdose. Natural and semisyn- thetic opioids, such as oxycodone and hydro- codone, have long been a big problem as people Guest Columnist Keith Anderson is the director of news for APG of East Central Minnesota. He can be reached at [email protected] . See Anderson , Page 5 Copyright © 2019 by ECM Publishers, is published weekly by ECM Publishers, 10917 Valley View Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55344- 3730. Business, Editorial and Circulation Offi ces: 10917 Valley View Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55344-3730. Accounting Of- fi ce: ECM Publishers, 4095 Coon Rapids Blvd., Coon Rapids, MN 55433-2523. Call 763-712-3544 to subscribe. Periodical rates paid at Hopkins, MN. Postmaster: Send address changes to Sun Sailor St. Louis Park, 4095 Coon Rapids Blvd., Coon Rapids, MN 55433-2523. Offi ce hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone: 952-829-0797 KEITH ANDERSON have struggled with those prescription painkillers. In 2003, 4,867 Ameri- cans died from overdose on those drugs. By 2017, the number of Americans killed by overdose from those prescription drugs had increased to 14,495. The abuse is not re- stricted to certain age groups. In Minnesota, people between the ages of 25-34 represented 26 percent of the opioid deaths in 2017. Those between the ages of 45- 54 accounted for 23 per- cent, while 35-44 was 20 percent, 55+ were 17 per- cent and those under the age of 24 stood at 13.5 percent. This is touching every demographic of our society. Still not convinced this is a serious issue? How do you feel about mur- der? There were 113 ho- micides in Minnesota in 2017. Nationally there were 17,284 reported ho- micides. As startling as those numbers may seem, they represented about one third the number of deaths from opioid over- dose in the same year. If you’re like many Minnesotans, you re- member the day Prince died: April 21, 2016. He brought so much joy, energy and life to the world. Most people were stunned when they heard of his death. It seemed like the whole nation paused for a few days. For months people trav- eled to Paisley Park as if on a religious pilgrimage, tagging purple balloons, ribbons and posters to a fence, all hoping to ease their personal agony. As S AILOR sailor.mnsun.com Circulation and delivery: 763-712-3544; [email protected] Business advertising: 952-392-6800 [email protected] Deadline: 5 p.m. Fridays Place a classifi ed: 952-392-6888 Deadline: 3 p.m. Mondays LETTER TO THE EDITOR Legislature should pass gun safety legislation To the Editor: While many of us spent Valentine’s Day celebrat- ing with loved ones, fami- lies in Parkland, Florida, spent the day remember- ing their loved ones lost to gun violence a year ago. I was also mourning my own anniversary, the loss of a former student to a self-infl icted gun injury that happened while I was on the phone with her mother. I spent that Val- entine’s Day in 2007, the fi rst I would spend with the man who became my husband, not celebrating love or romance but being interviewed by homicide detectives and having pan- ic attacks. Twelve years later, I’ve learned one important fact about gun violence: we don’t have to live this way. While events like this make many of us feel helpless and hopeless, there are practical steps that can be taken in our communities and in our country to prevent such horrifi c events from hap- pening again. The newly instated Min- nesota House has identi- fi ed gun violence as a top priority this legislative season. To that end, they have taken the important step of introducing a bill supporting background checks on all gun sales. This measure would close loopholes in our current law. A recent investiga- tion into online gun sales by Everytown For Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention orga- nization in the country, discovered that in 2018, nearly 1.2 million ads were posted on Armslist. com for fi rearm sales that had no legal requirement for a background check – including 28,818 ads in Minnesota. This is simply unacceptable. I am not anti-gun. I am anti-gun violence and pro-gun safety. I want responsible, law-abiding citizens to have access to fi rearms while at the same time keeping guns away from those who would use them to harm themselves or others. I urge my neigh- bors to please contact our state legislators to encour- age them to support back- ground checks on all gun sales – in honor of the vic- tims and survivors of the Parkland school shooting, in honor of my student, Daisy, and to ensure that we all are able to celebrate with our loved ones for many years to come. Bethany Penna St. Louis Park SHARE YOUR VIEWS Letters to the editor should not exceed 350 words. Shorter letters are the most likely to be read. All letters to the editor and guest columns must bear the author’s name and complete home address. Telephone numbers (home and of- fi ce) where the writer can be reached during business and evening hours must be included for verifi cation pur- poses. Letters should only be signed by those who participated in writing the letter. We will not publish any letter where a signature has not been verifi ed. The newspaper reserves the right to edit all submissions and to reject any let- ters or columns that contain libelous or offensive material. No letters to the editor regarding any candidate or campaign will be printed in the edition before an election. We will limit the frequency of let- ters published from an individual writer to one per month. Please email letters to seth.rowe@ ecm-inc.com. 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Community Editor Seth Rowe: [email protected] 763-424-7382 Managing Editor Gretchen Schlosser: [email protected] 763-424-7375 Sports Editor Jason Olson: [email protected] 952-392-6853 Executive Editor Mandy Froemming: [email protected] 763-424-7373 Account Executive Linda Banks: [email protected] 952-392-7673 Advertising Director Steve Gall: [email protected] 952-392-6844 Regional President Mark Weber: [email protected] 952-392-6807 Director of News Keith Anderson: [email protected] 952-392-6847 Director of Specialty Publications/Magazines Cheri O’Bannon: [email protected] 952-392-6840