EVERETT—Though drug addiction affects millions from all walks of life, the recovery process can feel like an isolated, silent struggle for many individuals. At the 8th Annual Snohomish County Overdose Awareness Day, the goal was to shine a light on state resources, community organizations, and other helping hands that can ease the process of recovery – to quote longtime advocate and event organizer Lindsey Arrington, “you are not alone.”

Strolling through a cluster of advocacy booths in the Snohomish County Campus Plaza, a fragment of conversation between the Homeward House and Recovery Coalition tables was overheard: “That guy that just walked by, he said he just got out of jail and started services at Evergreen [a Seattle-based treatment provider]… he’s been clean since,” a woman said, her voice tinged with wonder. 

The sun set over the Cascades and downtown Everett as people emerged from the crowd and participated in a candlelight vigil; each flame representing a life lost to addiction. Soon after, Arrington took the stage with her fellow organizers, Cathi Lee and Debbie Warfield. Lee and Warfield had met and bonded over a shared experience that no mother should go through – the untimely loss of a child from an overdose. Their stories were “almost identical… good kid, good family, same desperate need for resources that were just not available.” 

Snohomish County Overdose Awareness Day was born from the loss these mothers experienced, and they intend it to help fill a gap they noticed in their own familial struggles with drug abuse.

“There wasn’t enough information. We felt secluded, ashamed,” said Warfield. “So tonight we’re here to shed light on people who are suffering from addiction… we’re talking about different treatments, controversial treatments. This can affect anyone, and there isn’t a treatment that works for everyone. ”

Arrington and Lee noted the presence of many local organizations providing resources, information, and recovery programs. Tallying over 30 separate booths, this Overdose Awareness Day had the biggest turnout of any so far. Organizations present included Oxford House, Center for Human Services, Quilceda Counseling, Everett Recovery Cafe,  Nar-Anon Family Groups, and dozens more. The complete list will be posted on the Snohomish Overdose Prevention website.

Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers was a featured speaker, fielding questions from Arrington, Lee and Warfield on-stage. Also present were Karen Moore, a Superior Court Judge, and Amber, a recent graduate of the county’s drug diversion program: Snohomish County Adult Recovery Court, better known as “drug court.”

Judge Moore explained the effects and benefits of Everett’s rechristened “drug court”, which she referred to as “therapeutic court.” Based on an “evidence-based, nationally vetted” model, Moore said a primary aim of the program is to “work with parents going through substance-abuse and provide them with support systems” so they can avoid losing custody of their children. “We provide supportive, not punitive, accountability.”

In Adult Recovery court, an individual undergoing drug treatment is likely doing so in place of a suspended sentence, or in order to avoid harsher criminal sentencing. But Moore insisted that the program is “not a cakewalk.” An individual must participate in the court’s recovery program for sometimes close to two years; this mandates weekly court and clinic check-ins, acquisition of stable housing and employment, and clean drug tests for over six months straight. Despite the requisites to pass, Moore said the program was intended for “high risk, most in need” candidates who would otherwise be considered “a lost cause,” repeatedly arrested just to continue abusing drugs upon release. “We are not a ‘you fail, you automatically go to jail’, court,” said Moore.

This portrayal of the system as more forgiving than traditional criminal court was undercut slightly by the personal account of one drug court alumni. “I got six months added to my treatment and served four days in jail after I ate a muffin with poppy seeds and failed a UA [urine analysis drug test],” Amber said, to groans from the audience. “One of the rules was ‘watch what you eat’, they told me.” 

Regardless, Amber, who experienced the cycle of addiction, incarceration, and recovery firsthand, touted the court program as nothing less than lifesaving. “I have my daughters back, I work with the YWCA. I have a future… After recovery, I have a life now.” 

For his part, County Executive Dave Somers spoke to his priorities in Snohomish County’s battle with addiction. He touted the purchase of two “meth-contaminated” motels, one in Edmonds and one in Everett, to be repurposed as low-barrier housing with recovery treatment mandated for tenants. The motels will be “completely gutted, with new walls, furniture, and kitchens.” 

Somers told me that federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) primarily funded these ambitious remodels. The Everett Herald reported in February that the cleanup process had become more difficult than anticipated, due to the deep nature of the contamination. As Somers left the stage, Amber quipped, “Sorry Dave, I think I stayed at one of your hotels back when.”

Somers shared with the Lynnwood Times more details about his general approach to addiction.

“A big chunk of 80 million federal dollars is going to the motels. It’s a huge asset to get people off the streets,” Somers explained.

Some critics have called this form of low barrier housing a poor solution, pointing out that addicts will continue using drugs whether they are homeless or not. But not at Hotel Somers: “The rooms come with services, programs, and 24/7 staff. If someone goes there and keeps using, they won’t be able to stay.”

Somers made his help-first philosophy clear saying, “We don’t ask someone who’s sick to get better before we put them in the hospital.”

He said that programs like this drew from what neighboring King County has implemented in an attempt to foundationally address the compounding issues of homelessness and addiction.

“Shelter is a basic human need. It’s extremely difficult for someone with addiction, someone living on the street, to pull themselves out of that,” Somers said. 

Officials in both counties are working together to simply create “more beds”, something Somers described as both essential and difficult. “There’s a huge need that we can’t fill, but we’re trying the best we can.”

“Harm reduction” is an apt umbrella term to describe the efforts of Somers, each recovery organization present, and the hosting group Snohomish Overdose Prevention. Yet the term has become politicized as of late, associated with imagery of drug dealers outside methadone clinics and syringe caps littering sidewalks. 

Although she disagrees with certain policies, event organizer Arrington disputed the negative characterization of harm reduction.

“A lot of people think harm reduction is just needle exchange. But it’s medication assistance, opioid recovery, overdose reversal through Narcan,” said Arrington. “I don’t believe in safe injection sites, but I do support Sound Pathways offering IV user services. This crisis is reality. And at the end of the day we want to keep people safe. We’ll throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.”

Her personal modus operandi of harm reduction was expressed directly to the crowd. “If anybody here wants to go to detox, if you see anybody that wants to go, we’re doing detox runs tonight. We’ll take you there.” 

Arrington further shared her thoughts on the modern nature of the opioid crisis, explaining that although resources have increased, “the number of overdoses is growing too. Things are getting worse with fentanyl, and it’s stronger… [addicts] don’t want to get clean.”

She added that Everett is a fitting venue for Overdose Awareness Day, citing reporting from the Los Angeles Times about the practically industrial-scale OxyContin trafficking that devastated Snohomish County’s largest city. The widespread opioid addiction left in the pharmaceutical’s wake greatly stoked the market for illegally imported street fentanyl, exponentially more potent than heroin or morphine. 

But what can be done to combat a crisis with no end in sight? “If I had it my way, elected officials would give an emergency order to bring people off the streets and provide them with holistic addiction treatment. We’re not gonna get that, so we ask our officials to focus on prevention and education, especially within schools,” Arrington said. 

Local politicians like Somers and community organizers like Arrington combat the societal impact of addiction on a daily basis. But to get even closer to the issue, an Oregon resident, now lawfully employed as an electrician, agreed to an anonymous phone interview to discuss former connections within an Everett drug distribution ring. 

This conversation revealed a brazen method of transportation utilized by the man’s former associate.

“He would fly from Arizona or New Mexico with tens of thousands of blues [fentanyl pills] in his bag… to sell them in Everett,” he claimed. “Multiple trips per year, thousands and thousands of pills.” 

The man didn’t mince his words when discussing the lethality of the business. “They’re killing kids,” he said. “It should be the same penalty as murder.”