While I’m opposed to the tax-cap question that will appear on our November ballot, certainly the proponents have a right to promote their position. What I object to is their recent TV commercial showing a young man injecting himself with a needle and comparing that to state spending.

I work in the alcohol-chemical dependency field. Those addictions are physical dependency disease concerns, which I feel were most inappropriate to have in a TV commercial for promoting their position.

But since they have, I will comment that the addiction rate for alcohol-chemical dependency disease is between 7 percent to 10 percent of our population, teenage through senior citizens. For every person suffering from an alcohol-chemical dependency, four to seven people are directly, adversely affected and all citizens are indirectly affected.

The best hope for addiction is treatment. The agency I work for took a $30,000 deduction from state funding sources this last year. This despite the fact that for every dollar spent for addiction treatment, the state gets a $7 return when the person finds meaningful recovery.

If the tax cap passes, substantial cuts might be necessary, which would have a great impact on recovery treatment for the alcohol-chemical dependent client.

Ernest Hunt, Minot