Kalispell's heroin blight and what you can do about it

By KERRY K. MOTT

There is nothing in the world more destructive to society than maiming the lives of young people with a serious drug addiction. Our young people are our future; we must provide for them the right conditions for them to mature into healthy, kind-hearted, intelligent, and self-policing individuals.

A large percentage of the heroin in the Flathead originates in Afghanistan, where we have been at war for over a decade. Anyone using heroin of that origin is potentially supporting terrorist activities. Just to show how malevolent the processors of opium are, they alter its purity, increasing it randomly in order to kill our youth with accidental overdoses. This has been in the news recently, nationally, and in my book, constitutes a slow-motion attack on our vulnerable young people.

The highly prevalent use of prescription opiates like oxycodone and oxycontin as painkillers may have paved the way for the addiction to begin.

After this is the immediate step into crime, particularly burglaries, to steal anything to support their habits. This affects every member of the community. Eventually, they end up sharing a need among multiple users, and the rates of HIV and hepatitis soar. If one of your children should happen to have unprotected sex with a needle sharer, in steps the blight into your own living room.

These kids are not able to work or operate machinery — their days are an endless struggle to obtain their next fix. They are not lucid, nor can they properly care for themselves. They look sadly like hooded zombies, unsteadily making their way down the street, head down, shoulders slumped; the body language of the defeated. Look and you will see them in central Kalispell. They should be in state-of-the-art treatment, not on the streets.

Kalispell’s current jail is full to bursting at the seams, which means that criminals, addicts, dealers, and non-violent felons know that their illegal behavior is without consequence.

Without jail time as a deterrent, the police are unable to perform their jobs, and there is a crime free-for-all in Kalispell. These individuals are entering through private gates into people’s backyards to peer into windows at night looking for high value items to steal; they are also breaking into cars.

It’s time for a new jail, and our police will be needing help from everyone who lives in or nearby Kalispell. So here’s what each of us can do to change the world. We must contribute to the Flathead Co. Jail Fund, once monthly, a check for $20-50, whichever is more comfortable. This is not tax-deductible. That’s OK, because a smaller amount when multiplied by a large group of contributors will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. The frequency is more important; take a quiet Sunday morning once a month to sit down and write a check to the Flathead Co. Jail Fund for $20. Banks and local businesses could donate a great deal more.

Mail to: 800 S. Main Street, Room 214, Kalispell, MT 59901.

There is no way we can say we truly love our children if we stand by and allow this nightmare to continue. We will not permit the monsters who ship this poison into our valley to prevail. This is war. Are you willing to fight? Pick up your pen; let’s build a jail.

Mott is a resident of Columbia Falls.