Seattle City Councilmember Sara Nelson holds up a list of groups she says support her bill to criminalize public drug use and possession
“Re-criminalizing” public drug use and small quantity possession fails to get all Seattle city leaders on board.
The Seattle City Council took up making minor possession and public drug use gross misdemeanors to follow what the sponsors say is standard procedure to match state criminal code with city code after state lawmakers passed a so-called “Blake fix” bill in a short special session last month.
Council member Andrew Lewis says he was going to vote for the bill, but with City Attorney Ann Davison’s decision to end participation in ‘community court’, Lewis says he couldn’t move forward without some kind of plan in place that matches Davison’s promise to emphasize diversion from jail into treatment. “One of those tools is being taken away,” Lewis says, “and the promise of a pre-file diversion program hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. I just can’t.”
Co-sponsor, council member Alex Pedersen, says he’s disappointed in his colleagues’ vote, adding “I believe this insults the hard work of our Democratic governor and state legislature and demonstrates a lack of trust in our mayor to implement this in an appropriate manner.”
When the state’s new drug law kicks in July 1st, Seattle Police will still be able to arrest people for public drug use and possession, but the city attorney won’t be able to prosecute without an ordinance like this one to create jurisdiction for her office, and the King County Prosecutor has said she doesn’t have the resources to take on the cases.
You can watch the entire June 6th, 2023 Seattle City Council meeting on Seattle Channel here.
