Pandemic, shootings spike mental-health need

It has been a hard year.

Due in part to the pandemic and, in Colorado and other places, mass shootings have helped to cause suicidal ideation to rise. Depression in many people has either increased or set in.  Alcohol and illegal drug use has risen. Those who were already abusing prescription drugs either increased their use or started with worse drugs. The isolation even drove those who have never been abusers to begin using either out of boredom, loneliness or depression. According to hospital system UCHealth, 380,000 Coloradans are not getting the mental health care they need.

It has been a hard…