Ever-rot — a demeaning and dispiriting name for the city of Everett. We are emerging from its past reputation to become a community with a great future and prominence. But we need to be honest with ourselves and admit we have more work to do changing outsiders’ perceptions, especially potential businesses. We need everyone’s attention and support to overcome two challenges so our city can show it doesn’t deserve that characterization — our drug and homeless problems.
The City Council is doing an incredible job facing the homeless situation and they will be making significant strides as they work on both short- and long-term solutions.
The drug problem is going to be more challenging because we have left open a door for drugs to be sold legally in the city. The marijuana industry refuses to admit that its drug is a gateway drug that leads to deadlier, addictive drugs but ask anyone who has worked with recovering addicts, police officers and social services and they will unwaveringly disagree with the marijuana industry. Marijuana itself is addictive, which is why it is still considered a harmful drug by the federal government. Research shows that 1 out of every 11 adults that begin smoking marijuana become addicted to it, but 1 out of 6 children who even try it become addicted. The marijuana stores say they will never sell to the youth, but their stores remain a resource for more pot to become available to them. We need to close every door possible to begin stopping Everett’s drug problem.
Mark Staab
Everett
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