Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for April 23, 2022

Fentanyl overdose epidemic needs attention

I am a youth minister in Marin County. In the past three years, five Marin kids I personally knew have died from fentanyl-laced contraband pharmaceuticals (each instance involved Percocet and all were procured through the social media app Snapchat).

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration claims it is working on the problem. I can say that nobody on “the front lines” sees any evidence of that. Anyone who walks in certain San Francisco neighborhoods can personally attest that issues of addiction ruining lives aren’t getting better.

There is a need for prioritized enforcement, yes, but there is no way the DEA or local politicians will ever stop the flow. These actors are not criminals, they are addicts and gangster stooges for what are likely to be international operatives. I see fentanyl as similar to malicious code in cyberwarfare. It is a weapon and it is being targeted to bring U.S. residents down.

I don’t see the fentanyl overdose epidemic as a drug enforcement problem. I think it is a national security issue. Fentanyl is not just killing kids, it is killing hope — which I believe is the goal of those seeking to bring us down.

As much as bureaucrats like those in the DEA think they know, I suggest they really don’t know anything about this crisis. I think the DEA is too bureaucratic, too trapped in its old paradigms of the Nancy Reagan “just say no” era. That was about racist crackdowns on marijuana and crack cocaine users, as well as fighting mob-distributed heroin. Those days are gone.

A properly focused enforcement counterattack will not succeed without thinking in terms of national security and without a complementary intervention program on a national scale. President Joe Biden needs to create a task force — including unconventional people from the field.

Stale ideas, impotent bureaucrats and time are the enemies. Kids are dying.

— Jon Myers, San Rafael

Decorated Dreskin valued in our Marin community

I am writing in appreciation of IJ hiking columnist Wendy Dreskin, who recently wrote her last column for the newspaper after deciding to move on (“A sense of place and caring for what we love,” April 4). Though the IJ’s hiking column will continue, Dreskin’s many friends and fans will miss her.

Reading her trail-hiking suggestions and descriptions over the years brought not only an extra element of joy to the outdoors for hikers in Marin, but her column was a great read — partly because of the excellent American Indian Miwok information she often wove into it about native plants and wildlife that hikers would see along the trail. Dreskin is a highly regarded professional and dedicated volunteer who especially enjoys introducing people to areas she loves.

Dreskin led walks for Friends of Olompali, California Native Plant Society, Friends of Corte Madera Creek, Marin Audubon, the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, the Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Marin Municipal Water District and the Marin County Open Space District.

She gave lectures on native wildflowers, tide pools, butterflies, migratory birds and Native American uses of plants. Dreskin led trips in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties. She introduced hikers from around the country to Marin’s wonderful hiking trails through Elderhostel (now Road Scholar). She took students to the Serengeti and led safaris in Tanzania. One year, after a safari, students volunteered at Zariki School for young Tanzanians.

For her inspiring work she has received the Terwilliger Environmental Award, the Johns Hopkins University Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth Teacher Recognition Award and was inducted into the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018.

Dreskin’s writing is a gift. It will be missed. But we know she is committed to educating others about the environment. Whatever that future form takes will benefit our environment and those who share Dreskin’s love for it.

— Jean Berensmeier, Lagunitas

Safety work needed on North San Pedro Road

I am writing about the back and forth over a proposal to reduce San Rafael’s Point San Pedro Road to one lane in a specific area (“Marin officials rethink San Rafael traffic lane closure,” April 18). If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I ride the length of Point San Pedro and North San Pedro roads regularly and I have no problems with most of the road. The section opposite Bayside Park is OK, there is room for all traffic. But when I get to the end of North San Pedro Road just past the Marin Civic Center and have to go under Highway 101 to get back to Central San Rafael I feel I am risking life and limb. First, there are the cars turning onto the northbound onramp, then the northbound offramp spilling traffic onto the road I’m riding and, finally, under the overpass, with cars whizzing in every direction.

It feels truly dangerous and a bit scary.

I think it speaks poorly for the bicycle commission when they ask for unnecessary work, when there is real work to be done,

— Rodger Jacobsen, San Rafael

Proposed test section misses problem area

I am writing in regard to those pushing for Marin County officials to implement a test to take Point San Pedro Road down to one lane for approximately one mile (“Marin officials rethink San Rafael traffic lane closure,” April 18).

From my perspective, the whole problem is that the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is requiring a bike lane beside the park. This would remove three parking places, so the existing bike lane would start about 100 yards west of where it starts now. The county’s test was going to be an alternate to this 100 yards.

There are no metrics of what would constitute success. There have been no accidents for years on this stretch, so I guess the metric would be no new accidents, but it should be noted that it is hard to improve on zero. Additionally, there are several dangerous sections of this road, including the area just east of the high school. It seems strange that the area of the test was singled out.

The road leads to China Camp State Park so there is lots of bicycle traffic. Near the park, the road is already two lanes with little or no shoulder. This should be addressed first. The existing bike lane ends at the road to McNears brickyard, which means there is about seven miles where cyclists and drivers share the lane.

I feel that the proposed test section has heavy commute and truck traffic. We should not waste time and money setting up and monitoring a mile-long test section when there are far more pressing needs. The easy and cheap solution is to eliminate the three non-handicapped parking places at the park and start the bike lane 100 yards earlier. There is already a handicapped parking place at the park.

— Nick Clark, San Rafael

Some Republicans need to change ways

I’ve been reading calls for Republicans and Democrats to get together, iron out their differences and reach a compromise.

Despite being a lifelong member of the Republican Party, I feel I can say there are not two sides to some of the issues dividing our country. Some of our Republican elected officials are lying, cheating and evil. They are attempting to suppress all the progress we’ve made.

In the middle of the 19th Century, the new Republican Party, under Abraham Lincoln’s leadership, was on the side of good, striving to implement the tenets of democracy with its egalitarian goals. It was the Democrats, mostly wealthy people in the South, who were the evil, slave-abusing monsters who wanted to extend their ownership of other humans and spread their horror throughout the western U.S.

Today, a mere 170 years later, we’ve come full cycle. It’s the Democrats on the side of good, trying to uphold our democracy and its freedoms, prevent unfettered greed and help our country progress. In both eras, I find it amazing that evil politicians conned so many mostly rural and uneducated voters into supporting them.

— Larry Lack, Novato