The City of Everett is trying to get creative with people suffering from addiction. For those who have decided that they really need help, and are serious about getting it, the City of Everett wants to give it to them, in the form of a scholarship. On the 10th floor of the Wall Street Building in Everett, in a very quiet conference room with a beautiful view of the Puget Sound, I meet Kaitlyn Dowd. She’s a social worker embedded with the Everett Police Department, and this isn’t where she

Over a three month period last year, one emergency room in Everett, Washington treated 253 people who had overdosed. And in 2016, which is the most recent data available from the state, Snohomish County had one of the highest opioid death rates in Washington. Everett is trying new ways to manage this problem and to prevent it from getting worse. One institution that could see this storm brewing years ago, was the library. The two libraries that make up the Everett Public Library System have been

To understand why opioids exert such a powerful pull on human beings, you want to look first to our brains’ natural “happy juice”: endorphins. So says Charles Chavkin, a professor in the University of Washington’s Pharmacology Department. Chavkin explains that there is a whole series of neural receptors designed specifically to detect endorphins. “They’re there as kind of antennas,” he says. “They’re very specific. They’re tuned to one frequency. The one frequency is the chemical they’re evolved

What may be most remarkable about Turina James' story is not that she got hooked on heroin as a teenager, but the fact that she managed to get off of it. She did so with little support from family, and after a traumatic childhood that included sexual violence, homelessness and unplanned pregnancy. James grew up in Yakima, where she says she was kicked out of her house and on the streets by age 12. By 15 she was pregnant, and soon moved in with an older man who was not her child's father. He had

This week on Sound Effect, we share stories of the opioid crisis in the Northwest – the people who are affected, and those who are confronting it. We start by learning some of the brain science behind addiction , and why it can be so hard to kick the habit. We meet a woman who battled heroin addiction, got clean for 17 years, and then relapsed again. We head to Everett where librarians are learning to become first responders. Also in Everett, we learn about a scholarship program created to help

This story originally aired on September 2, 2017. There is an unassuming, boxy building on the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Way and South 17th Street in Tacoma. This is the home Prince Hall Masonic Temple of the Freemasons. The organization is a worldwide fraternity that’s been around for hundreds of years. It’s known for its secret symbols and rituals. Prince Hall is a traditionally African American branch of freemasonry named after a man from the 1700’s who had to personally ask the

This story originally aired on September 2, 2017. In the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, tucked among the bungalows sits an ornate yellow and red building. On one side flies the American flag, and on the other flies what’s called the Dharma Flag. This monastery is one of the most important sites in the world for one of the four major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism -- the Sakya school. And it houses a genuine princess: Her Eminence Dagmo Kusho Sakya is one of the most prominent female lamas in

This story originally aired on September 2, 2017. For many in the Seattle area, Royal Brougham might be little more than a regal sounding street near Safeco Field. But Royal Brougham was actually one of the longest tenured reporters in U.S. newspaper history, working 68 years, primarily as a sports columnist and editor, for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. He was also an advocate for the city of Seattle, looking for ways to put it on the map well before the likes of Amazon and Starbucks came

This story originally aired on September 2, 2017. Robbie Luna is a man of many hats, a Seattle area carpenter by day, and by night he fronts two bands, one of which is a Prince cover band called " Purple Mane ." With Prince's 2016 death the band suddenly found themselves carrying the weight of being both a fun sexy party band, while also being a respectful tribute to a beloved musical genius. No one is better suited for that challenge than Robbie. His performance as Prince is impeccable, he even

This story originally aired on September 2, 2017. Weddings are one of the few events in our lives that are planned with precision and detail. They can be logistical challenges involving food, entertaining guests, making time to take photographs and figuring out which music to play that will coax people onto the dance floor. On the day Shandance Robertson got married in February, something completely unexpected happened that was not part of the plan. Shandance was posing for photos in Seattle’s