Those in recovery come in all stripes

Having read the article about Catholic Community Services and the proposed counseling facility near “Rodeo Drive,” I was once again saddened as well as angered by the small-minded bigotry of my fellow human beings. (Sept. 4 article, “Drug clinic doesn’t fit an upscale Everett, some say.”)

I wonder if the members of this elitist group of proprietors have considered how many of their customers are recovering addicts and alcoholics. They are hard to distinguish from the “normal” customer. They are the doctors, lawyers, prosecutors, business owners, students, laborers, homemakers, grandmothers, teachers and drug counselors who walk through their doors every day.

I have loved ones who walk the road of recovery and have experienced first-hand the vital need for more counseling and recovery facilities for those afflicted with the disease of addiction, alcoholism and mental illness. Catholic Community Services provides vital services for hundreds of those in recovery every year. For any person to deny them access to these vital services is not only elitist and bigoted, but unconscionable as a member of the society we all live in.

I would urge every person in recovery and every person who loves or knows someone in recovery to walk past these businesses on the “wanna-be Rodeo Drive”and spend their money elsewhere. Perhaps then these arrogant and self-serving proprietors will come to recognize who their customers are and how many of them are the human beings they so need to disassociate themselves from.

Sharon Chism

Marysville

Talk to us

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, Sept. 25

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Randall Tharp’s month recovery coins after battling a fentanyl addiction.  (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Fentanyl crisis should force rethinking of approach

A continuum of care, that includes treatment in jails, is imperative, says a journalist and author.

Flowers bloom on the end of a dead tree on Spencer Island on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Restore salmon habitat but provide view of its work

Comments are sought on a plan to restore fish habitat to the island east of Everett with popular trails.

Comment: Carrying Narcan requires having compassion for addicts

The stigma around fentanyl addiction remains a barrier to its availability to treat those overdosing.

Comment: If AI ‘writers’ were human, they would have been fired

A series of stories, written by AI, have embarrassed news sites and raised questions about their use.

Comment: Murdoch’s out; not his legacy of ‘alternative facts’

The Fox News creator’s formula for laundering right-wing narratives as news lives on without him at the helm.

Fact check: No, migrants aren’t getting $2,200 a month from U.S.

A viral tweet by Rep. Lauren Boebert is a zombie claim that started in 2006 in Canada.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Sept. 24

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, pumpjacks are seen operating in Bakersfield, Calif. On Friday, April 23, 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would halt all new fracking permits in the state by January 2024. He also ordered state regulators to plan for halting all oil extraction in the state by 2045. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Comment: If ‘peak oil’ is ahead why is oil industry doubling down?

Fossil fuel use could peak by 2030, but Big Oil may be putting profit ahead of prudent transition.

Most Read