Regarding “New support group helps people grieve,” Oct. 19: Please stop feeling sorry for and glorifying addled drug users who voluntarily do stupid things that result in their deaths.

I and my wife are in our 60s and have never even thought of using illegal drugs! I was in combat in war, walked the worst countries in the world and it never entered my mind to become a druggie. My life has not been a bed of roses, with plenty of bad times, but to fall back on drugs would be weak, selfish and pathetic.

We avoid and shun people in our family who are involved in illegal drug use or substance abuse. We are sick and tired of reading about people who feel so sorry for these failures in our society.

This support group may mourn and cry over these drug users, but in the immortal words of former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, “They are just a bunch of losers who went belly up.”

Stephen Weiss
Palm Desert