I ultimately came away hopeful from the meeting. Encouraged that most of the community has a strong grasp of the seriousness of the public health crisis, I think this will be built without fracturing the body politic.”

I wish to express my appreciation for the strong position The Leader’s editorial board took on the proposed Medication-Assisted Therapy facility in Sequim. I spent the better part of two years addicted to opioids, and I shudder to think of what my life would be like today if I hadn’t received treatment with Suboxone for four and a half years.

I attended the recent community forum in Sequim, filled with dread after reading recent coverage of the opposition to the facility. After all, what ex-junkie would be excited to go to an event filled with people likely to stigmatize them while fighting against access to the treatment that saved their life? The building was packed, with turnout well over a thousand.

However, I was heartened by what I heard. Not only was there parity in the number of citizens speaking for or against the facility - and some incredibly powerful testimonials from those whose lives had been touched by the opioid epidemic - but those opposed were careful with their objections. They generally didn’t object to MAT for those suffering from the hell of opioid addiction, they just didn’t think Sequim was the right location.

It’s too small, the population too old, and affordable housing too rare, the comments went. Except for those – a significant minority - who insisted they had good reason to think homeless criminals would show up in droves from outside Clallam and Jefferson Counties and wreak havoc in their idyllic paradise, the objections centered on location, not treatment principles and smears.

That’s good, because as far as patient welfare goes, MAT is unassailable. The outcomes for mortality and recovery outcomes (opioid users with Suboxone prescriptions die at 50-80% lower rates than those without) are so much better than abstinence treatment that studies comparing them now violate scientific ethics.

Still, it’s easy to show that the arguments against placing it in Sequim are specious and miss the point. We’re talking about a program for those seeking treatment, not forced into it by the court system against their will. I spent almost four years going to a MAT facility in the commercial part of Mt. Vernon - which did have many patients who had been dispatched there by the justice system - and never once felt at risk or threatened in the slightest. The Sequim building’s location is also deliberately chosen in a population center that is the third biggest in the Olympic Peninsula and straddles the gap between the two largest. Geographically, it’s almost ideal.

Although my resentment of the protests kept those thoughts running through my mind, I ultimately came away hopeful from the meeting. Encouraged that most of the community has a strong grasp of the seriousness of the public health crisis, I think this will be built without fracturing the body politic.

(Trent Diamanti is Treasurer of the Jefferson Clemente Foundation, a program that teaches the humanities at the college level to people living in economic distress, who learn through dialogue about moral philosophy, literature, history, art history, critical thinking, and writing. Originally from Whidbey Island, Diamanti now makes Port Townsend his home.)