With Gun Ownership Comes Responsibility
With gun ownership comes responsibility. In light of the recent mass shooting taking the lives of children and faculty at yet another U.S. school, the voice of more gun owners is desperately needed in promoting safe gun ownership and sensible gun safety measures.
Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. These deaths are entirely preventable. Sensible gun laws slow the surging uptick in gun deaths by allowing time and distance between a person showing signs of being a threat to themselves or others and a firearm, strengthening background checks on all firearm sales, and ensuring secure storage of firearms to prevent access by children. The majority of gun owners support these simple policies and their voices are needed in these conversations.
By failing to act on sensible gun safety laws, we are failing our children . . . one young and innocent death at a time.
Rebecca Gorski
Chester Township
Help Available to Quit Smoking
Did you know that about one in four Americans suffer every day from some form of mental illness? Additionally, those with a mental illness are more than twice as likely to use nicotine products. Nearly 40% of all cigarettes are smoked by adults with either a mental health or substance use disorder.
Currently, 1 in 4 Americans suffer from some form of addiction to nicotine while fighting a chronic behavioral health issue such as substance abuse. These individuals are likely to suffer the same effects of tobacco use — like heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases — as those who smoke without having a mental illness. However, those with a mental illness can die as much as 24 years earlier than others, and often contributed to a tobacco-related illness.
Due to the mood-altering effects of nicotine, individuals with mental illness have a higher risk for cigarette and nicotine addiction. Despite these issues, smokers with mental illness want to quit, can quit and can be helped through established stop-smoking treatments.
There is free help available through the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. Quitting smoking is rarely easy. However, it can be done.
Quitting smoking is the single most important step people can take to protect their health and the health of their family. There are also local resources available from Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers, (440) 255-0678.
Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers is a private, nonprofit agency providing continuous service to the community since 1971. Services at Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers are made possible due to the generous support of the Lake County ADAMHS Board, the Geauga Board of MHRS, and United Way of Lake & Geauga Counties.
Melanie Blasko, LPC-S, LICDC-CS
President & CEO Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers
