Currently, it is much easier to get high on streets of Everett, than it is to get help for opioid addiction.
This is a problem for people suffering from the disease and trying to recover. The current shortage in clinics specializing in addiction medication-assisted treatment (MAT) has led to long waiting periods of weeks or months for the only existing facility in the city. Left with inaccessible medical care, a patient’s painful withdrawal symptoms can lead to desperate actions for any relief possible.
Studies are clear MAT for opioid addiction is effective at saving lives from overdoses; and helping patients maintain a path to recovery. For the past 2 ½ years, Therapeutic Health Services has been trying open a new Everett clinic only to be resisted by a discriminatory land use law.
The U.S. Americans with Disability Act is a civil rights law created for this purpose. ADA ensures people with disabilities and chronic disease have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else; particularly in issues of health care access. By limiting the location and number of MAT clinics, the Everett’s municipal code has singled-out addiction treatment for a distinct land use regulation that is not required by other medical clinics.
If the city is sincere about solutions to the epidemic, it must prioritize public education on prevention and treatment in order to break addiction-related stigma. The singular focus on street culture has exacerbated misconceptions and completely missed cost-effective early intervention and treatment opportunities.
A supply market will always emerge with demand; the real answer is to prevent and treat addiction in the early stages. Let’s stop creating the conditions that drive people to the streets and risky behavior for relief.
Kathryn Beck
Everett
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