CU Health must stop using debt collectors
I will not participate in any event or make any more donations to support my alma mater The University of Colorado College of Nursing until UCHSC Anschutz stops its predatory practice of turning over unpaid medical bills to collections agencies. I will suggest to my 1965 CU Health Sciences Center classmates and my health care colleagues who use your medical services that they do the same. Really? Aroma therapy for me during an alumni meeting at the same time a patient is having trouble paying a medical bill?
As a young nursing student and subsequent staff nurse caring for patients on the Neurology and Neurosurgical Unit, I was proud that we took care of everyone who needed us no matter their insurance coverage and or financial status. We didn’t harass our former patients using collection agents at the same time they were recovering from a brain tumor or continuing to deal with the challenges of multiple sclerosis!
If we really want to get back to our mission of providing high-quality, affordable health care for everyone who lives in Colorado, the Health Sciences Center needs to support a publicly funded health care plan for all Colorado residents, a nonprofit business enterprise owned by the people for the people with guaranteed lifetime affordable coverage and no collection agencies profiting from our illnesses and injuries!
Jeanne Nicholson, Black Hawk
Editor’s note: Jeanne Nicholson is a former state senator and a recipient of the University of Colorado College of Nursing Lifetime Achievement Award.
DEA should reclassify marijuana
Re: “Federal marijuana restrictions: DEA a notable holdout in push to ease rules,” May 21 news story
So, “DEA has not yet made a determination as to the appropriate schedule for marijuana…” Yes, the agency needs more scientific study to learn what everybody else already knows: that marijuana does not belong in the same classification as cocaine, heroin and oxycodone.
It’s true, as former DEA administrator Tim Shea said, “[e]verybody from the agents in the streets to the leadership in the DEA knows the dangers this [change in classification] brings.” The danger is that hundreds of agents and administrators (not to mention prosecutors and court personnel), who now occupy their time treating marijuana as a Schedule 1 narcotic, will have to find other employment.
In the interest of full employment, no doubt DEA would prefer years if not decades more study before reclassifying marijuana. Never mind the fact that the illegality of the drug has been a significant obstacle to such study. But it is long past time for the drug warriors, and for the rest of the country, to realize the need to treat drug use and drug abuse as medical issues, not legal ones. Reclassification is a needed step in the right direction. The war on drugs has failed in its stated purpose while pushing the legal system to the breaking point. Moving past DEA obstruction was the right thing for the Justice Department to do.
Davide Migliaccio, Colorado Springs
Haley forgets what a real catastrophe is
Re: “Haley says she will cast vote for Trump,” May 23 news story
I see Nikki Haley has joined the legion of politicians using exaggerated inflammatory language in order to gain votes. Now she states that President Joe Biden is a “catastrophe” on various policies. 9/11 was a catastrophe, the assault on the Capitol on January 6 was a catastrophe. The millions of lives lost from Covid was a catastrophe, one that would have been even worse if people had started injecting bleach as Trump suggested.
Some of the policies she claims are catastrophic under Biden are “backing America’s allies, supporting capitalism and freedom and lowering the national debt.” Of course, being a politician, she cites no examples. Just toes the party line. Maybe Trump was right when he called her a birdbrain.
Candy London, Denver
Composting was a bill of goods
Re: “Two more years without compost bins is unacceptable,” May 22 editorial
Yes, the city needs to do a lot more and do it better. City Council and the citizens of Denver were sold a bill of goods regarding composting. When we started getting charged for trash, and downsized our trash can since we already had a compost bin, we soon learned the composter decided to quit accepting a substantial number of items for composting.
No more pizza boxes, napkins/ paper towels, and the like – adding to our trash bins. And, the pick-up schedule is not always kept. This week our pick-up was a day late and they only emptied half of the bin. City Council and the composter owe the citizens an apology for their continuing failure to do the job they promised.
Mandell S. Winter, Jr., Denver
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