I, too, was shocked to see the headline “Reality of Heroin Addiction – Is heroin becoming more common in the San Juan Islands?” on the covers of our local papers on Aug. 17. I applaud the writers of this well-written article as well as the editors for printing it as it behooves us all to be well-informed in matters that significantly affect our communities.
That being said I was equally shocked by the opinion of a local titled “Drugs, crime on front page?” that was printed in the Aug. 24 edition in response to this article. If there’s two things I really dislike it’s people who try to control the media, and media that tries to control the people. I protest any attempts to suppress the news because it might offend tourists (or for any other reason).
The problems associated with drug use throughout the islands is, not unlike tourism and development, one of those elephants in the room that we rarely discuss openly. The upside of tourism and development of course is money and jobs. The downside is the well-researched and documented long-term negative socioeconomic impacts of growth pressure in seasonal/resort communities. I trust that such opinions will not deter the editors from continuing to perform their public service.
Michael “MJ” Johnson
Orcas Island