Editor,

Myla Ross of Orcas Island writes an interesting letter (June 10 letter to the editor) on funding for drug addiction rehabilitation. It is a problem our nation has been dealing with since the 1960s when heroin became epidemic.

Myla’s emphasis is in cure and prevention, which makes good and realistic sense, but there appears to be more to the story and it may be a deeper and a more sorry story than we know.

The problem may stem from the good times and economy our nation has enjoyed since WWII when we all were more disciplined by fear and necessity.

That era was followed by the hippy movement, which was the opposite extreme.

Then came the education reforms that told America’s youth to believe in themselves and discard the restraints of religions and elders in order to reach for the skies. This of course has some beneficial effects… but at what cost?

As a retired law enforcement officer from another state, I spent about three years volunteering to assist our county’s Drug Court Program which has been an exemplary effort to do what Myla Ross endorses. Actually, our county’s short-term history deserves outstanding recognition for its efforts. Lives have been rescued, changed, and restored to honorable citizenship… at least in the short term.

Long-term benefits seem to be more scarce. Why?

I’m no expert, but one thing stood out in my experience and that was the seemingly abysmal home life most of the court’s participants grew up in. The recollections they shared indicated the extremes of parenting in being either excessively harsh or ignorantly lax. Discipline seemed to be driven by parental frustration more than by objective reasoning.

Let’s face it, most of us become parents as a result of hormone-driven interests without prior experience and only our own upbringing as a behavioral model.

A functional remedy probably needs more universal parental training. Perhaps more emphasis on this in the secondary public school system would be more realistic than the disrespectful abandonment of traditional values that seem to be prevalent in today’s youth.

But then most likely there will be resistance from those fearing too much personal intrusion by government.

It’s a complex problem because whereas we all are similar, we all have differences. We cherish the differences. No one wants more regimentation than is necessary.

Al Williams

Oak Harbor