TALL ORDER

reflect on it now over these 2018 holidays. Thank you.

I wonder how tall President Trump’s wall between the United States and Mexico will be? Will it be able to keep out Russia’s longrange strategic bombers that recently landed at an airport near Caracas, Venezuela?

Russian bombers in the Americas are a much bigger threat than poor people from Mexico and Central America.

What will Trump do, since he is under the influence of Vladimir Putin? This is a dangerous situation. Congress must act, because Trump will not protect us.

– Tom Comerford, Pompano Beach OPIOID CRISIS

Throughout my career, I have seen countless preventable deaths from drug overdoses. As discussed in Howard Cohen’s Dec. 4 article, “Life expectancy keeps falling under opioid crisis. Here’s how Florida bucks the trend,” success in decreasing opioid sales is a glimmer of hope in the face of this crisis.

Making an impact requires that we address drug misuse while ensuring that patients with chronic pain who need opioid therapy are not stigmatized. There are steps Florida can take to do both — namely, by adopting the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.

Data show drug misuse takes many forms — including ALEXANDRA VILLOCH PUBLISHER

– Helen Witty, Miami

JOHN S. KNIGHT (1894-1981) supplementing, substituting or abstaining from taking medication as prescribed. While Florida encourages safe prescribing through the E-FORCE program, without definitive testing, providers are left to assume what is in their patients’ systems.

I commend efforts by healthcare providers to stop the prescription-drug crisis, but we cannot be expected to control illicit street drugs such as fentanyl, which are the cause of most overdose deaths, without information to ascertain what drugs our patients are using.

– Jeffrey Gudin, director of pain and palliative care, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood, N.J. WE’RE SLIPPING

I am troubled by the growing number of partisan attempts (by both parties) to legislate some sort of statutory change that will diminish the power of the other party.

History teaches us that when a majority finds itself continually stymied by a minority that has rigged the legislative and legal process in its favor, the result is an increase in extremism and, if not remedied, the use of violence to regain rights.

I love my country and its commitment to democracy much more than my party’s platform. We moderates must not allow narrow-minded, self-serving politicians to model our government after some banana republic.

– Glenn Patron, Coconut Grove GOVERNORS’ GROUP

Re the Dec. 12 op-ed “States, like Florida, can lead the way on climate change. We must do it now,” by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

These two governors care deeply about climate change and have joined a bipartisan group of governors to form the U.S. Climate Alliance. There are now 17 governors in that group.

Let us encourage our governor-elect, Ron DeSantis, to become an aggressive member of this group, which cares more about our future than socalled leaders in Washington, D.C.

– Bob Thompson, Cooper City WE ARE NOT ‘LATIN’ –

Why we Spanish-speaking people are call “Latins?” My father’s family originated in a town in Asturias, Spain, called Miyares. My mother’s side is from Cataluña, a region of Spain. Therefore, I am not a Latin, I am a Iberian American — Portugal and Spain are two countries in the Iberian peninsula.

It is derogatory and racist to call all people from Central and South America and the Caribbean Latin when there are a diversity of race, language and native dialect. The media, the film industry and the advertising industry are sensitive to name calling, and they should stop calling millions of people Latins when they are not. This “L” word should be abolished.

– Julian D. Miyares, Miami

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