Reasons for giving the “Gift of Treatment” this holiday season were made heartbreakingly clear this week to everyone in the community.
No matter the final details that come to light of what transpired just around midnight Sunday at 6268 Bush River Road-it was tragic what happened there.
A man lost his life, and for what?
From a close, rural family and area, Reggie Braswell, from all accounts, was a promising young man who lost out to the powerful grip of methamphetamine. Meth is easy to manufacture in a home environment, and deadly dangerous both to take and to make. Sadly, Newberry is not alone in such stories, and it would be insane to think that the problem ended locally with that explosion Sunday night.
Three others were arrested, to what end will they come?
In a country rife with issues with drugs, and one that is chockful of laws mandating tough sentences for those that sell and manufacture drugs, prison and jail are no turnarounds. Yes, there are success stories. But cellmates often become partners in crime, either behind bars, or when they inevitably are released. How will those three people rise above this incidence in their lives? Which brings us to one of the more tragic pieces of late coming news about that night.
None of these problems are new.
Every day people fritter their lives away in the grips of meth, or crack, smack, booze, the list of addictions is long-so is the accompanying list of societal, and personal costs. Lives are lost, but also there are those who live life in great distress, causing great pain to others and expense and danger to us all.
In a fact sheet from Westview Behavioral Health Services (which treats addiction locally and provides services for county residents without means to pay):
“Treatment is not only important to the individual, but to the community as well because behavioral health issues manifest in a variety of social problems such as crime, mental health problems, referrals to social services, incidents of family and youth violence, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse. These issues touch us in churches, families, and businesses. The cost to society is great including the loss of productivity in businesses and the cost of law enforcement to deal with its associated problems. Treatment works and is less costly to society than the effect of behavioral health problems.” Westview asks each year during the holidays for treatment donations under its “Gift of Treatment” campaign.
Hopefully, if enough people find treatment available to them we can stop reading, writing and living these tragic stories.
Post a Comment
