Seattle mayor proposes drug measure to align with state regulation, including $27M for remedy

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is asking members of the City Council who voted towards adopting the state’s managed substance regulation to think about an amended plan.

Harrell is providing a proposal that may align town’s code with new state regulation, making possession and public use of medicine reminiscent of fentanyl, a gross misdemeanor. But it could additionally emphasize diversion and well being packages and spend $27 million to pay for opioid remedy and associated amenities. Seattle noticed a 72% improve in overdose deaths from 2021 to 2022.

The “announcements represent important steps forward toward a safer, healthier Seattle, as we continue to act with urgency to build out a bold health-first approach, help those in need, curtail impacts of public drug consumption, and hold dealers and traffickers accountable,” Harrell mentioned in a press release Monday.

The City Council declined to undertake the brand new state regulation in a 5-4 June vote. Opponents mentioned the regulation may end in harsher enforcement, particularly for low-income individuals and folks of coloration, and will revitalize the struggle on medicine.

Harrell’s plan comes after he appointed a activity drive – together with City Council members and public security consultants – to additional work on the measure for a month. The $27 million would come from settlement cash town obtained from opioid lawsuits, Harrell mentioned.

The measure additionally informs police that “diversion, treatment, and other alternatives to booking are the preferred approach,” and instructs them to think about “whether the individual, through their actions and conduct, presents a threat of harm” to themselves or others earlier than arrests are made on both cost, The Seattle Times reported.

“This package is a balanced approach to respond to the crisis fentanyl has brought to our streets,” Councilmember Andrew Lewis mentioned Monday in a press release. “This legislation, that I will co-sponsor, responds to the needs I laid out at the beginning of this process and gives our first responders the tools they need to divert to services where possible and make arrests when necessary.”

Lewis was the swing vote that brought about the June measure to fail, KUOW reported.

The Washington regulation signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in May struck a stability between public order and compassion for individuals combating substance abuse, lawmakers mentioned on the time.

Legislators had been underneath strain to move a invoice this 12 months as a result of a brief regulation that made intentional drug possession unlawful was resulting from expire July 1. Unless the Legislature handed a brand new regulation, drug possession would have been decriminalized underneath state regulation.

The state regulation makes it a gross misdemeanor punishable by as much as six months in jail for the primary two drug possession offenses and as much as a 12 months after that. But police and prosecutors can be inspired to divert instances for remedy or different companies. The state measure supplies $44 million for investments that embrace methadone cell items, disaster facilities and short-term housing for individuals with substance use issues.