EVERETT — Christina Cratty was a teenager when she started using opioids.
Now, 25 years later, she’s finally clean, thanks to medication-assisted drug treatment.
“It feels like a dream,” Cratty said. “I don’t even recognize myself.”
On Thursday evening, Cratty and others shared stories of recovery at Snohomish County’s overdose awareness event on the county campus in Everett. They highlighted how controversial social programs like drug recovery court and medication-assisted treatment helped them find health and stability.
People embrace before the start of A Night to Remember, A Time to Act opioid awareness event at the Snohomish County Campus on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Last year, 334 people died of overdoses in Snohomish County — an all-time high. Most deaths involved the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is genocidal,” said Lindsey Arrington, founder of local recovery group Hope Soldiers. “It’s wiping out a whole generation of people.”
Arrington helped moderate “A Night To Remember, A Time To Act” with Cathi Lee and Debbie Warfield, two moms who started the event eight years ago after their sons died of a drug overdose.
“There is no one-size-fits-all treatment,” Lee said. “The stigma, myths, and often ignorance surrounding programs like drug court, methadone clinics and medication-assisted treatment programs prevent families and the public from seeking the help they need.”
Lee and Warfield said they regret not knowing more about medication-assisted treatment, because it could have saved their sons’ lives.
Before she got clean, Cratty was in and out of jail. She had a rocky relationship with her mom and her kids. When she decided she was ready to make a change, she got help from Ideal Option, a network of medicated-assisted treatment clinics.
“I had lost out on a lot with my kids,” she said. “It got to the point where my desire to be in my kids’ lives was more important than being on the streets.”
One of the event organizers, Debbie Warfield, speaks during A Night to Remember, A Time to Act opioid awareness event at the Snohomish County Campus on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Ideal Option offers Suboxone, a combination of the synthetic opioid buprenorphine and naloxone, the medicine used to reverse opioid overdose. The combination makes it difficult to abuse, since naloxone cancels the euphoric effects of the opioid. Ideal Option also offers Vivitrol, an extended-release injectable of naltrexone, a brain receptor blocker, that can also be used for alcohol addiction.
Ben Ross, who works at Therapeutic Health Solutions, another addiction treatment network in the county, said everyone has their own recovery journey. At the clinics, providers match a patient’s medication with their personal goals.
Therapeutic Health Solutions offers methadone, a synthetic opioid that eliminates withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings by activating opioid receptors in the brain. Compared to other opioids, the medication activates the receptors at a slower pace — and not enough to cause euphoria. Methadone treatment is highly regulated, since it is possible to become addicted.
Some people may be able to taper off medication, Ross said. Others, usually those who had decades-long addictions, may rely on medication for the rest of their lives. But that’s OK, he said — it’s just like people who are diabetic needing insulin.
When it comes to drug recovery court, Arrington said, critics argue people who go through the program are “getting off scot-free” by avoiding jail time. Superior Court Judge Karen Moore, who works with the 12- to 18-month program, said that’s far from the truth.
Judge Karen Moore, left, with the adult recovery court, listens during a round table discussion during A Night to Remember, A Time to Act opioid awareness event at the Snohomish County Campus on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The program uses “supportive accountability” to help “the worst of the worst” cases, Moore said. The main goal is to give people in the throes of addiction a sense of purpose, and to prevent parents from losing their children. To graduate, people often need to make court dates each week, get counseling, attain a GED or high school diploma, secure housing and be sober for at least six months.
“It’s not a cake walk,” Moore said.
Since being clean, Cratty has mended relationships with her family and works a steady job in Everett.
“I have my family back,” Catty said. “The best gift I have now is life.”
More information is available on the county’s overdose prevention website. You can also call the Washington Recovery Help Line for free, confidential support 24 hours a day at 1-866-789-1511.
Sydney Jackson: 425-339-3430; sydney.jackson@heraldnet.com; X: @_sydneyajackson.
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