My brother Ronnie

Dear Editor, 

50 years ago on February 24, 1974 my brother Ron died from a drug overdose. There is has been plenty of news about the dangers of drugs that lead to overdoses and death.

The information refers to natural opioids such as morphine, codeine.or synthetic ones like methadone, heroin, fentanyl, hydrocodone, etc.

Getting back to my brother he lost his life to the most available drug, alcohol.

It is very hard to lose a family member to a drug overdose, and when a household is experiencing a disease whether drug addiction, terminal illness, or other outside problems the whole household is dealing with it.

Drugs of any kind are not the problem, many of them provide health benefits. The problem becomes when they are abused.

The reason for the abuse for the most part comes from people experiencing negative feelings about themselves or their life. The source of that has been compounded by many sources which is either social media, negative news which is repeated over and over with no value, plus division of family and friends by politically motivated comments unsupported by facts.

So what is the solution to stop the problem of the drug overdose problem. First start thinking positive thoughts about your place in life, because you are more valuable to this world than you may realize. Eliminate the negative people or sources that are not helping your attitude.

I have always looked for the positive benefit or lesson as a result of situations which can be looked at as being unable to overcome, of which I have had many.

I know that my brother didn't die in vain, his short life was a lesson to many and still continues to this day.

Tom McGuire

Mineral Point, WI