As someone who has walked the path from active addiction to recovery, I am compelled to speak out against Washington state’s proposed “safer supply” program that would have our government distribute fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to addicts. This isn’t compassion – it’s a death sentence wrapped in the language of harm reduction.
Thirteen years ago, drugs were illegal, and because of that reality, I was able to get my life on track. After seven months in jail and 18 months of real treatment focused on abstinence, I found freedom. Not temporary relief, not maintenance – freedom. I now have 12.7 years of abstinence-based recovery because I learned the fundamental tools that were missing in my life – tools that helped me stop destroying myself in addiction. When a person can’t get out of the maze of self-destruction, they can’t change their life. Today, we are systematically denying people like me that same opportunity to recover, and I have to ask: Is this by design?
The reality behind the rhetoric
I don’t need tours of homeless encampments to understand what’s happening – I regularly enter these spaces to interview the people living there. I ask about their addiction status, their preferred drugs, whether they’re parents and who’s raising their children, whether treatment is being offered, if they feel safe, and most importantly, whether anyone is offering them a way out. When I ask a homeless person if they like their life, and they say no, that tells me there’s room for improvement – yet our current system offers them maintenance in that misery rather than a genuine path forward.
We have redefined basic words to obscure our failures. “Treatment” no longer means working toward abstinence-based recovery – it means indefinite maintenance on replacement drugs. “Services” don’t guide people toward independence – they create permanent dependence.
Rejecting failed approaches of the past and present
I’m often told that incarceration and treatment programs of the past didn’t work. I would argue they only addressed one dimension of the problem—separation and abstinence. The solution isn’t to throw the baby out with the bathwater; it’s to use what works and strengthen what doesn’t. When someone with lived experience who has overcome addiction has jurisdiction to redesign these tools to improve lives and provide pathways to independence, things change dramatically. I’ve seen this firsthand in my work inside prisons, where the outcomes are remarkable.
The real question we must ask is: What are the intended outcomes? If the goal is genuine recovery and independence, current policies are failing spectacularly.
The REAL cost of maintaining addiction
Let’s examine costs for someone without insurance:Vivitrol injections: $20,856-$26,352 annuallyHigh-dose Suboxone (32mg daily): $12,000 annuallySublocade injections: $27,240 annually
But these medication costs are just the tip of the iceberg. The REAL costs include:
The human cost: Children growing up without parents who could recover. Families destroyed because we chose to maintain addiction rather than fight for recovery.
The generational cost: Kids raised by grandparents, in foster care, or in chaos because their parents are maintained in addiction rather than guided toward independence.
The community cost: Crime, homelessness, emergency room visits, and the erosion of neighborhoods. Every person maintained in addiction represents ongoing community devastation.
Who pays? Who profits?
Who foots these astronomical bills? Taxpayers. Through Medicaid, insurance premiums, emergency services, and countless government agencies. We are systematically moving to put as many people as possible on these expensive drugs—and now Washington wants to add direct cartel partnerships by having the state distribute fentanyl and heroin.
Who benefits?
Pharmaceutical companies making billions on dependency drugsTreatment facilities with guaranteed long-term customersA massive bureaucracy whose jobs depend on keeping people sickPotentially cartels, if this “safer supply” proposal passes
Who DOESN’T benefit?
The person being “served.” They remain trapped, told they’re powerless to change, maintained in a system that profits from their continued dependence.
We have created a system where recovery threatens profits, while continued addiction ensures revenue.
A Path Forward
We need to provide opportunity, not maintenance. The proposal to have Washington state become a drug supplier would formalize this failure. What kind of relationship will this create with cartels? How will state-sponsored drug distribution affect our communities? Most critically, who is qualified to decide that we should further support the destruction of human life? Real treatment programs used to focus on abstinence and education. They provided tools for abstinence-based recovery and paths to independence. My recovery began with accountability and led to genuine freedom. Every person struggling with addiction deserves that same opportunity.
Washington faces a choice: Continue down a path that maintains addiction while enriching those who profit from human misery, or return to approaches that actually help people recover. We must stop redefining failure as success and start demanding real solutions. The lives of our most vulnerable community members – and their children – depend on it.
Ginny Burton is a recovering addict, service provider, and policy advocate who regularly works with individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction. She is a UW graduate, Truman Scholar, and has 12.7 years of recovery and extensive experience in the addiction and social service field.
