Todd Welch’s columns are generally a source of mirth and amusement with my mid-day coffee, but his recent commentary on our state’s health care leaders’ proposed policies to assist neighbors with substance abuse disorder (drug dealers, their customers and collateral victims) alarmed me (“A plan to supply addicts with dangerous drugs is a dangerous dance,” The Herald, July 9. It shouldn’t have, really; our state continues to excel at spending our money in alarming ways by giving it companies in Florida and California to expand our for ferry and electric vehicle infrastructure.
Of the 18 health care policies proposed by state health care leaders, the one on job training for those involved in the ever-expanding illicit drug trade appears to be the weakest in my opinion. It cites three very small-scale programs with no mention of our state’s excellent WorkSource or apprenticeship systems. I monitored these systems when I worked for the U.S. Department of Labor, and Washington frequently outperformed other publicly funded job training systems across the nation.
Our health care leaders also recommend an insultingly small biennium grant of $440,000 with no apparent plans to engage the private sector, Big Pharma, or recent opioid settlements to fund and sustain this critically important work to change the lives of those impacted by substance use disorder. Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest more in recovery clinics to help addicts when they are ready to accept help and then link addicts with existing, successful public and private systems that were omitted from (or not included in) the current set of policy recommendations?
Eric Steiner
Freeland
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