Editorial

Brianne Fitzgerald, NP - Recoverymattersma.org At first glance it looks like a no brainer.  Recreational cannabis legalization first took place on the West Coast and the first serious wave of opioid addiction took place in Appalachia and Maine.  If all you do it eyeball the numbers and jump to the idea that pot = less opioid use you have missed a lot.  The data is indeed messy.  Some say that cannabis is a gateway drug (and from where I sit 100% of the patients, I see identify cannabis/alcohol/nicotine as their initiation into further drug use).  This is not causal it is by association because we have not done systemic studies and yet 72,000 people fatally overdosed on opioids in 2017.  Should we continue to beat [...]

Brianne Fitzgerald NP, Recoverymattersma.org   This is a tough one, as we have little scientific information on marijuana.  It is a schedule 1 drug and therefore limited rigorous scientific research has been conducted.  We do know from anecdotal information, social medical, personal experiences and hearsay that there are serious issues related to its use.   Marijuana is not harmless and yet it does not lead to fatal overdoses as alcohol does.  The potency of current strains may shock those who have not tried it for decades.  It can produce a serious dependency and regular use does interfere with job and school performance.  It is best to be avoided if you are an adolescent.  Casual use by adults poses minimal risk for healthy people.  Marijuana though is [...]

Letters to the Editor By Raymond L. Flynn, Former Mayor of Boston and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. After attending Mass on Sunday at St. Brigid Church in South Boston, one of the parishioners came over to me and said, “Mr. Mayor, I heard you on WBZ radio last night and really liked what you had to say about several current important issues, especially the call you received from a family member of former Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Arthur Osborn. As you said, many union workers are being mistreated by big companies, which is very unfair. National Grid is a public utility and its workers’ families should not be denied health care during the ‘lockout’ and striking hotel workers had a valid concern for a [...]

 by Rick Winterson   To state the obvious, Thanksgiving Day tomorrow (November 22, 2018) will be a day set aside to offer gratitude for our lives in America, along with  all that we have and enjoy.  There never has been (and perhaps never will be) a nation like the United States of America.  On their first Thanksgiving, held in October of 1621, the Pilgrims sensed this about their “New World”, even though they had lost half their number to disease and deprivation, during their voyage on the Mayflower and after they landed here in Plymouth on December 21, 1620. The first Thanksgiving was really a Harvest Festival.  No cranberries were served – they grew wild back then and the Wampanoag Indians used them only as [...]

Letter to the Editor: Raymond L. Flynn, former Mayor of Boston and former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Attending morning Mass on Veterans Day was always a great opportunity to reflect on the many dedicated men and women who served our country in the military over these many years. There is always something special about thinking and praying for our veterans, as we did yesterday, on the special day of remembrance. Years back, attending Mass at St. Angela’s Church in Mattapan or Sacred Heart in Roslindale and then visiting the graves of loved ones and veterans on Veterans Day and Memorial Day was a ritual in my and many other families. We didn’t have a car in those early days, so taking the Franklin Park [...]

By Richard Campbell As the election results are coming in this writer decided to look a little more deeply into the 20-year-old voting machine debacle. Many Americans believe they are informed regarding the integrity of our outdated system of voting. Our technology challenged officials either claim there are no serious problems, or they can’t be fixed in a reasonable time. The New York Times issued a recent editorial entitled “Elections Could be Hacked, Vote Anyway.” The article basically said we should vote to show the Russians we haven’t been influenced by their manipulation of the elections, even though there is clear evidence that our voting system is vulnerable. Just remember this: it’s not how you vote, it’s how your vote is counted. Forget about social [...]

Letter to the Editor: By Mayor Martin J. Walsh This year is shaping up to be one of the strongest years in Boston’s history. We’ve continued to add 20,000 new jobs each year, and we’ve brought unemployment down below 4 percent. And perhaps most importantly, we’ve made a plan to ensure that the benefits of Boston’s booming economy are enjoyed by everyone who calls this city home. We’re making record investments in affordable housing, sidewalks and bike lanes, community policing, libraries, and schools. Through our BuildBPS plan, we are making bold investments in our educational infrastructure, so that every school has the resources to provide a comprehensive, 21st century education for Boston’s young people. I am proud of the progress that Boston has made this [...]

Letter to the Editor: By Ray Flynn, Former Mayor of Boston and Former U. S. Ambassador to the Vatican Waiting for the dedication ceremony of the Bill “Skippy” Miller Park on Boston Waterfront on Monday to begin, several retired Longshoremen, Tom Glynn, Miller family members, MassPort, union leaders, Congressman Lynch, Councillor Flynn, area residents and I were talking about naturally the Red Sox winning the World Series yesterday. What an honor! Boston has always had some of the most loyal fans in the country, so in my opinion, no City deserves a championship more than Boston fans do. The Red Sox and the Boston Braves didn’t win any championships in those days, but everybody had a good story to tell. Even though my brother Steve [...]

By Richard Campbell As the mayor of Boston has released his climate change goals for the future, a report in August this year from the Union of Concerned Scientists reveals that the state is seeing a serge in vehicular air pollution. Anyone who lives in South Boston and has witnessed the large increase in truck traffic to build the Seaport district would not be surprised by this report. The group stated in its report: “DEP’ s (Department of Environmental Protection) updated emissions inventory showed a significant jump in emissions from transportation, from 29.7 MMT in 2015 to 31.7 MMT in 2016, an increase of over 6 percent. Transportation pollution is higher today than it has been at any point since 2008. It is the only [...]