Politicians don't do enough to fight drugs

The first segment on 60 Minutes recently was titled "Heroin in the Heartland." Parents in the Columbus, Ohio, area who had lost a child to a drug overdose were being interviewed, and they had similar stories.

Doctors overprescribe addictive opiate painkillers, the patient becomes addicted, and to support the habit, they turn to heroin as it is much cheaper than buying illegal pills on the street.

After many times through the rehab and relapse cycle, the child eventually dies of an overdose.

A young lady who is currently sober pointed out that it was never a problem getting heroin, as she was able to get it delivered to her house. The Sun Times this week pointed out that of the 324 people killed in the first half of 2016, almost 80 percent had faced criminal charges for drug offenses and 40 percent had drug convictions.

The gangs protect their turf and drug sales because of the money they make from it, and the resulting death of gang members is just a part of doing business.

So what are our president and politicians doing other than providing more Naloxone for overdoses? Are they using all possible resources to stop the flow of drugs into the country? Are we providing effective drug education?

No,

Obama commuted the sentences of 214 convicts. This makes 562 total, more than the previous nine presidents combined. Four from Illinois were serving time for drug distribution and firearm charges. If his daughters were to become addicted to heroin, I wonder if Obama would feel the same way about drugs and would be freeing drug dealers?

Any wonder people are losing faith in our politicians and looking for anyone who is not a part of the establishment, even Donald Trump?

Michael Haase

Mount Prospect