Let’s mark National Substance Use Prevention Month with something to celebrate and information that could save lives.
Cook County is on track this year to record the fewest number of opioid overdose deaths in the last decade. We went from a peak of more than 2,000 overdoses in 2022 to about 500 so far this year. If the trend holds and the county has fewer than 1,000 overdose deaths by the end of December, it will be the first time since 2015 the grim statistic has been that low — before fentanyl was increasingly mixed with other drugs.
The decline in fatal overdoses can’t be traced to any one initiative, but I would argue the growing availability of naloxone — a safe and easy to administer overdose nasal spray — as well as fentanyl test strips are key contributors. Our Haymarket Center outreach team carries both to distribute during our daily rounds on the CTA Blue Line, while staff at the social services agency Thresholds does the same on the Red Line.
I commend the CTA, Cook County Health and longtime champion County Board President Toni Preckwinkle for recently expanding the availability of naloxone through new vending machines on L platforms, where anyone can grab a free lifesaving nasal spray and be prepared to save someone from an overdose.
Accessibility bends the needle in health care. The next vital step is connecting individuals with substance use disorders, including those immediately following an overdose, to comprehensive treatment, wraparound services, job training and more.
As Haymarket Center celebrates our 50th anniversary of providing such treatment regardless of ability to pay, we are grateful fewer lives have been lost this year — but one life is too many, and there is still much work to be done.
Dan Lustig, president and CEO, Haymarket Center, Chicago
State police protected ICE, roughed up protesters
Last Friday, I attended a protest at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s processing center in Broadview to exercise my First Amendment rights and practice my faith. While I expected to be unwelcome, I did not expect to see Illinois State Police play such a prominent role in not only “protecting” ICE agents from peaceful protesters but allowing them to act with impunity and shoot all the propaganda footage they wanted.
As a pastor, I believe that what is happening at that facility and others like it across the country is a moral and spiritual emergency. I’ve been to my fair share of protests because I see it as my responsibility to use my position as a Christian clergyperson to make a better world. I also think that in tense situations, a pastoral presence and a visible clergy collar can help bring down the temperature. When I show up at a protest, I am 100% committed to nonviolence.
Honestly, watching ICE’s previous conduct at the Broadview facility, I feared someone could die. I thought that’s why state police had been deployed there Friday — to ensure no one would be killed and to protect protesters’ First Amendment rights, matching Gov. JB Pritzker’s tough anti-ICE rhetoric.
I was gravely mistaken.
My neck was grabbed, and I was struck on the throat. State police officers hit me with their hands and and pushed me with truncheons. An ICE agent even grabbed my nipple and twisted it as hard as he could. But most of the violence I saw came from state police, who were clearly there to shield ICE, which I witnessed as I prayed at the front line of the protest.
State police even allowed a right-wing influencer to shoot footage as he walked on a road that officers had spent hours keeping me and other protesters from accessing. We were pushed back when Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol, arrived — all so Fox News could get b-roll.
Most distressing to me was when an older woman with a cane was thrown to the ground by state police. She appeared to be injured as a result. Her alleged crime? Standing in a space state police arbitrarily deemed off limits. State police even let ICE agents point a weapon from a moving vehicle toward protesters.
I was not surprised by the state police’s actions. But I am disappointed.
The governor said that “Illinois is not a photo opportunity” when criticizing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to the Broadview facility. But what I saw was a photo op that taxpayers are helping pay for. It is our state police rolling out the red carpet for Bovino and Noem. The governor should make sure that state police officers are protecting Illinoisans exercising their First Amendment rights. Otherwise, he’s just all talk and a posturing politician.
Rev. Michael Woolf, senior minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston
Sun-Times ICE coverage is crucial
I just wanted to thank the Sun-Times for its coverage of the South Shore U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid. The newspaper is where I first found out about it. Subsequently, I researched local television coverage and could find little to nothing, as if it didn’t happen or was purposefully omitted. This is why I support print journalism and will continue making the small donations I can. It’s more important than ever.
Barb Orze, Cedar Lake, Indiana
Horror show
Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is Dr. Frankenstein, and Donald Trump is his monster.
Montgomery Mackey, West Town