Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 6-27-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, June 27, 2019 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION
Jon Earnest — Editor / Sports Juanita Adame — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
What’s not to like about living in Califor- nia? Even with the current summer heat, we have the greatest climate in the world; we have the most beautiful mountains; we have the greatest beaches; we have the richest farmland to be found anywhere; we have mag- nificent deserts and yet we have the highest poverty rate in the United States and the high- est number of welfare recipients in the entire nation. Obviously, we have a major problem somewhere! Could it have anything to do with having the worst possible political leadership? You think?
It may not be on the masthead, but Exponent’s presence still fully intact
Fred Hall
Well, this is it. The final issue of The Reedley Exponent as it’s been known for more than 128 years. But in reality, it isn’t.
It’s true that “The Reedley Ex- ponent” won’t dominate the mast- head of the new Mid Valley Times newspaper that will launch next week. But the familiar paper’s title still be up there, along with Dinuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald. Just in a slightly less conspicuous location.
The point is, not a lot will change when it comes to news around Reed- ley. When there’s a big vote or de- cision from the City Council, we’ll be there to report on it. If a nota- ble crime or incident occurs, we’ll report it to the best of our ability. When there’s a big football game, basketball game, youth sport or other notable athletic event, we’ll be giving the lowdown on it or at least provide the score when possible. A big show, musical event, commu- nity activity or annual tradition like Fiesta and Street Faire? We’ll be there.
And when you walk into the door weekdays at 1130 G St., you’ll still
see the same familiar faces and the Reedley Exponent’s communi- ty flavor, just with a new name on the paper and the business cards (eventually). The difference for all longtime readers and subscribers? You’ll be getting more; in particu- lar regional news from neighboring communities Dinuba and Sanger. On occasion, there will be stories of re- gional interest that affect all three cities. And areas that contain shared borders among cities — Reedley College, the Kings River, entertain- ment locales. Also, we’ll continue to report what we can from neighbor- ing communities in Orange Cove and Parlier — with the help and contributions from readers in those areas keeping us in the loop.
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Keep in mind, there will be ad-
justments with change. No transi- tion is flawless; don’t be surprised by the occasional hiccup as we work putting together consolidated com- munity calendars, letters and death notices, to name three items. The same goes with our sports cover- age. Reedley, Dinuba and Sanger
all have great pas- sion for their ath- letics in different sports.
•••
What do we
ask from you, the
reader? We wel-
come your feed-
back, and greatly
encourage bat
story ideas and even submissions (stories, photos, letter and guest columns). We strive to continue the ideal local base of coverage, both in print and on our revamped website.
Most of all, we ask for your support. We thank you if you’re a local subscriber. If you haven’t sub- scribed in the past, now’s a good time to come aboard with options for print and e-edition reading. We thank our loyal advertisers, invite other businesses to consider our im- proved package and urge the public to financially support those who ad- vertise with us.
The new Mid Valley Times looks forward to serving our readers for many years to come.
Facts can be stubborn things with which politicians and public officials must deal with on a regular basis. Case in point: Since about 2010, California has been losing a net 140,000 citizens each and every year. The Democratic administration in Sacramento and their sycophants in the media would tell you that the state is giving itself an enema — ridding itself of waste — to make room for the “best and brightest” as they migrate to the “Golden State” with the people who are leaving. No one really believes that! If what we’re getting are the best and brightest, all I can say is God help us.
The spin placed on the rationale for the exodus is patently un- true. If one will take a moment to survey your surroundings, it doesn’t take long for your “lying” eyes and intuitive brain to detect a far different situation. The term “enema” was not thrown in as a pejorative element — It’s actually the way the political elite have described those who are leaving! Those being forced to leave are all essentially working people who can no longer afford to live here and pay the ”entitlements” for those who choose not to support themselves or, even worse, are illegal and shouldn’t even be here.
Remember, regardless of what the media might tell you about the value of this under-the-radar illegal population paying taxes, their negative impact on
the economy of California is roughly $26 billion. Their cost of support exceeds their contribution by that amount. Apparently politicians see them as potential voters and with our current sys- tem of licensing through the DMV, with all the potential voter fraud, it is entirely feasible—even probably—that many of these people wind up voting. Allowing the harvesting of absentee ballots makes it a virtual certainty.
Eight million Californians live below the poverty line, and about 13 million find themselves on welfare rolls of some sort. Adding to the misery factor for many of these people is the fact that basics — like utilities — are the highest in the nation because of artificial factors such as legislators mandating that a certain ever-growing percentage of power come from renewable sources. Renewable sources are always more expensive than traditional methods of generating power. Blame the cost on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. if you will because they are not very sympathetic people, but the real source of exorbitant power is deeply rooted in Sacramento at the capitol and all the lobbyists!
It’s reached the point where every hare-brained scheme there is for generating power now has a lobbyist and, through spread- ing money around the capitol, manage to get themselves adding to legislation mandating their use by the power company. That includes everything from solar to steam, and every one of them are more expensive than coal-fired or natural gas.
Yes, we have a lot of things in this beautiful state in which we can take pride but the living standard of far too many of our population sure as hell isn’t one of them. The middle class family in California is being decimated by cost-of-living increases with which leadership deals so cavalierly. Perhaps a good slogan would be “Make California Affordable Again.” Donald Trump declared that he would work to make America great again and has worked every day since his inauguration to make it so. But then, on sec- ond thought, Gavin Newsom is no Donald Trump, so we need to prepare ourselves for the whims of a rich, San Francisco liberal who lives in a fantasy world which is far, far away from reality here in the Valley.
Given the weight of the current problem on the statewide level and the absence of character quality in those we have elected, it appears that the best place to begin is at the local level. There — at least at this time — remains something of a conservative political base here in the Valley. Ask the hard questions of those who seek public office. Do everything possible to elect people who do not answer to special interest groups and lobbyists. Make no mistake about it, we understand that money is the “mothers milk” of poli- tics and the unions and special interest groups have tons of cash to spend on their personally selected candidate.
We may be naive, but we believe that common sense is the best defense against some big donor with their thumb on the scale. That means clear thinking, informed voters should always be the winner.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Jon Earnest
The opioid dilemma not one crisis, but several
By Glenn Marsch
Guest columnist
We are in a blessed time now that the medical profession is more likely to heal us than to kill us by its ministrations. In the ancient world, to go to a physician was a gamble, often subject- ing patients to such hair- raising horrors as bloodlet- ting. And snake oil remedies were common. The ancients did the best they could, and we moderns don’t give them the credit they deserve. The general attitude towards physicians was summed up by the Roman poet Martial: “Until recently, Diaulus was a doctor; now he is an undertaker. He is still do- ing as an undertaker, what he used to do as a doctor.” Arguably, not until the 20th century were we more like- ly to be healed than hurt by our doctors.
A physician of earlier centuries had precious few effective medicines to of- fer. Willow-tree extract contained salicylates and has been used since antiq- uity for pain relief; it is the basis for aspirin (acetylsali- cylic acid).
Perhaps the most pow- erful physician’s ally was opium. Also very ancient, and derived from the seed- head of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), opi- um had pain-relief proper- ties without peer in the phy- sician’s pharmacopeia, able to relieve pain that aspirin or willow-tree remedies couldn’t touch. It was a dou- ble-edged sword: because physicians knew it was ef- fective, they prescribed it for all kinds of ailments, and, as a result, many pa- tients became addicted. Even William Wilberforce, the great British abolition- ist, was addicted to opium, which had been prescribed for intestinal ailments.
Opium contains many bioactive and psychotropic
molecules, the most impor- tant of which may be mor- phine, first purified from the opium poppy exudate in 1805. Since then other derivatives or variants of morphine have been syn- thesized for their analgesic (pain killing) properties. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to morphine and its variants as “opioids,” re- ferring to any molecule that binds to the opioid receptor in the brain. Opioids alter one’s state of consciousness and can give one a sense of euphoria—one reason for their illicit, recreational use. Opioids are also addic- tive and their withdrawal symptoms are often severe.
Opioid addiction kills most of the 70,000 Ameri- cans who die each year of drug overdose. That number is staggering and exceeds the number of Americans killed during the entirety of the Vietnam War. Such an enormity cries out for a response. We might attack this problem by stigmatiz- ing or prosecuting physi- cians who prescribe opioids for pain alleviation or going after the patients who need them. If we act by quick re- flexes and simply ban opi- oids or restrict them from proper medical use, we will remove one of our greatest resources. Opioids allow those afflicted by extreme, chronic pain to function rea- sonably well and perhaps enjoy their lives.
In reality, the opioid cri- sis is not one crisis but sev- eral. According to an article on the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) website, opioid prescrip- tions in the United States doubled from 2003-2013, but this increase does not appear to be responsible for the majority of deaths due to addiction and drug overdosing. For example, in recent years the number of deaths per capita due to opioid overdose does not ap-
pear to be correlated with the number of opioid pre- scriptions written by physi- cians per capita.
Opioids are powerful drugs. If opioids are pre- scribed for extreme pain, physicians recommend that their patients get off the opioid as soon as they can tolerate it and use a milder pain reliever. When physi- cians prescribe the proper opioid for the proper length of time, addiction is not usually a problem. Much of the caution leading to to- day’s restrictions makes the exception the rule—some are extremely sensitive to addiction and all should be carefully monitored. What about the case of people with chronic, excruciating pain? What is to be done with them? Physicians are becoming increasingly in- timidated from prescribing opioids for crippling pain, or they cut off the prescrip- tion after too short a time. What is to be done for the sufferers?
The fact is that some types of severe pain, like post-surgical pain or intrac- table chronic pain, cannot be alleviated by other drugs or pain-relief protocols. For this kind of pain, taking over-the-counter pain reliev- ers like aspirin is like shoot- ing Godzilla with a spitball. Only opioids will do.
This kind of excruciat- ing pain will drive people to do anything to alleviate it. If sufferers cannot ob- tain these drugs from their physicians with whom they have legitimate healing re- lationships, they will obtain them from illicit sources. It is an act of desperation.
This is the real driver for the opioid epidemic—il- licit drug use. Opioids are worse when mixed with other drugs, as is often the case. According to the American Society of Ad- dictive Medicine (ASMC), “Four in five new heroin
users started out misusing prescription painkillers.” The ASMC also says that the inaccessibility of pre- scription opioids or the ex- pense of them drove most users to obtain heroin illicit- ly. The largest contributors to opioid overdose mortality are the drugs fentanyl and heroin, obtained illegally, with much of the fentanyl being smuggled in from China. Fentanyl is much more powerful than other classes of opioids. Its av- erage lethal dose (LD50) is much smaller than for the other opioids—one would need to be a trained chem- ist to dose it out accurately. Thus it is far too easy for the untrained person to overdose on fentanyl. Some of fentanyl’s derivatives or chemical analogs are even more harmful and potent— ghastly, in fact.
When considering the application of science to so- ciety, one always deals with the is/ought bifurcation. Sci- ence can give data and tell us what is, but ultimately legislation instantiates a so- ciety’s response to a crisis and suggests what we ought to do. The opioid crisis is a case in point. It is difficult to know why so many seek ref- uge in drug addiction or how to deal with what is surely an existential crisis. However, opioids are amazing drugs, properly used, and there is no replacement for them. It would be tragic to restrict their use for those patients who genuinely need them. It would be equally tragic not to try to diagnose and ame- liorate the societal variables that are driving people to drug addiction.
Glenn A. Marsch is a professor of physics at Grove City (Pa.) College where he teaches physics and an in- novative course, Studies in Science, Faith and Technol- ogy. He is a contributing scholar with the Institute for Faith and Freedom.
QUOTE
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”
Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
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