Aug 20, 2018
Dear Hossein,
Congratulations on such a bounty harvest at your farm this year. It is good given all the other work we do to find ways to stay close to the earth and work with our hands.
I am very pleased that your meeting with Dr. Nouruzi went well. Getting that preliminary paper on use of TO in Iran is important as a foundation for future research in collaboration with Congress 60. My best wishes to you on you forthcoming presentation at the international addiction treatment science symposium. It would be good to have a video/audio of your presentation for posting and a translated transcript to post on my website with your other publications. I look forward to hearing the responses of participants to your presentation on the DST method and X theory.
The good news from me is that the technical work transitioning my website to a new operating platform is now nearly complete. I mentioned to you the long delays in this process and my frustration with them. The original site was the original design of the tech person who helped me build the site, which made it difficult for anyone else to work on. The site platform is now transferred to Wordpress so that my new tech person can now easily do updates on my site and add new sections that I have planned. I am very pleased with this development as getting the website completed is one of the final goals I have. One of the next things I want to add to the website is a photo gallery illustrating the history of addiction treatment and recovery in the United States. It will be a way to honor some of the pioneers who paved the way for our current efforts.
I am joining with others to address the continued rise in drug overdose deaths in the U.S., mostly from opioids. 72,287 people died in the U.S. last year from drug overdoses last year. The most recent increased have been related to the spread of illicit synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. The response of our current national leadership has been long on political rhetoric and short on real action that can make a difference. Recovery advocates here are trying to expand emergency response capabilities and expand access to treatment and recovery support services. My heart aches to know of all those grieving families, but I am encouraged by the growing numbers of people in recovery from opioid addiction who will be spared such a fate.
Congratulations to Shani on the receipt of the gifted camera. I am sure that is a gift that will bear wonderful fruit in the future.
Rita and I are looking forward to our travels north next week to visit family. We enjoy our driving trips and this one should be a pleasant one. We will be gone for about 10 days so pardon any break in our communications during that time.
Please extend my warmest regards to your family and to all members of Congress 60, all of whom I think of as part of my family.
Friends and Brothers Forever,
Bill