Remember Tom Cherington’s warning

I was watching the devastating TV coverage of the opioid crisis in Vancouver and the frightening figure of an estimated 1,000 deaths this year. Despite the valiant attempts of so many related agencies to combat this plague, deaths keep mounting.

Out of the blue, the face and voice of the late, great Tom Cherington on CHCH-TV almost 30 years ago came to my mind as he berated the belief of many that the use of marijuana, particularly in the young, was no big deal and voiced in no uncertain terms (as only he could do) his staunch belief that the habits of those hooked on cocaine and heroin and the like could so often be traced to the early use of marijuana.

Had he lived long enough to see that its use is soon to be legalized in Canada, I cringe to envision his ensuing message to those responsible. Virginia Coombs, Stoney Creek