Letters: Dangerous psychedelics | DA credit | BART mismanagement | Protect trees | Undermining IRA | Embracing Trump

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Danger of psychedelics
underplayed in article

Re: “A trip to healing” (Page A1, Aug. 27).

Your article in the East Bay Times detailed the healing power of psychedelic drugs. To balance your article, you briefly quoted the warning of a mother who tragically lost her son to psychedelic drugs. But most of the article was devoted to the “healing” power of these dangerous drugs. You listed examples of how these drugs were a reliable palliative for PTSD in firemen.

As a responsible newspaper, you needed to state categorically and emphatically that these drugs can be used only under strict clinical supervision where the dosage is skillfully managed by trained personnel. They are not experimental drugs for a casual user. I kept looking for such a cautionary statement but did not find it.

Silloo Tarapore
Lafayette

Trees need protections
in turf watering bill

The “turf watering prohibition” bill, AB 1572, needs stronger language to protect trees. Many trees planted in turf depend entirely upon grass irrigation as their only source of water. When you turn that off, the tree dies. You see this in HOAs that think they are being water-thrifty and eco-friendly, and within nine months all their trees and shrubs are dead too.

Fire has already taken tens of millions of trees in California; bark beetles, millions more. Trees provide shade and cooling that is ever more critical in a rapidly overheating climate. They “breathe in” carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. They are essential in our battle against climate disruption as well as making our urban and suburban spaces attractive and livable.

The bill needs to be amended with stronger language to recommend or require (not just allow) continued irrigation for trees and shrubs if irrigation to the grass is turned off.

Rosalie Howarth
Walnut Creek

Congress should stop
undermining IRA

One year ago, I sweated on the White House lawn when President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — the most significant action to address global warming in history. As we mark its first anniversary, the IRA is in trouble.

Millions are threatened by the extreme heat and dangerous fossil-fueled extreme weather we experienced this summer. Instead of quickly implementing the IRA and maximizing the billions of dollars it allocated for clean energy and climate resiliency, some Congress members are prioritizing polluting corporations over the well-being of our communities by attempting to kill the IRA through this year’s government funding process.

Budgets are moral documents — reflecting our values as a nation. Congressmembers’ attempts to undermine climate action that Americans support counters our values. Urge Congress to stop blocking progress and fully fund the IRA. Heading off climate disaster will save lives, there is nothing more valuable than that.

Susan Hendershot
Oakland

GOP’s lasting embrace
of Trump is disgusting

I watched the Republican debate last Wednesday. The question that I was eager to hear was never brought up, namely, “Do you think that the 2020 election was stolen?” Unbelievable. The issue is tearing our country apart, and they weren’t even asked for a show of hands.

We will never be able to put this nonsense behind us unless reasonable Republicans address it head-on. It’s obvious that Donald Trump lost. Multiple recounts, scores of unsuccessful lawsuits along with a complete lack of evidence to the contrary verify it.

Trump, childishly unwilling or unable to admit that he lost, is putting us through this. So many people have had their lives disrupted or worse. It’s commonly accepted that most Republicans in Congress know that Biden won, but are too afraid of Trump to say it publicly. What a disgrace.

Jim Peterson
Walnut Creek