Seattle City Council Rejects Bill Allowing City Attorney to Prosecute Open-Air Drug Use, Possession

A homeless man, 24, smokes fentanyl in Seattle, Washington, on March 12, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

The Seattle City Council voted on June 5 to reject legislation that would have allowed the city attorney to prosecute drug possession and public drug use for the first time in Seattle’s history.

The legislation, Council Bill 120586—relating to the possession and public use of controlled substances in a public place—was initially proposed by Republican City Attorney Ann Davison as part of efforts to crack down on drug use throughout the city.

However, it narrowly failed to pass among council members in a 5–4 vote.

Under the legislation, Seattle’s Municipal Code would be updated to classify public drug possession and drug use as gross misdemeanors, consistent with 2E2SSB 5536, which was passed by the Washington State Legislature in a special session in May.

That would grant the City Attorney’s Office the ability to prosecute those arrests, according to the bill.

Davison’s proposed legislation came as drug-related deaths have soared across the city.

There were approximately 589 drug overdose deaths in Seattle in 2022, with the majority attributed to highly-addictive opioids like fentanyl and stimulants such as methamphetamines, according to health officials.

That marks a 72 percent increase when compared to the 342 overdose deaths in Seattle in 2021.

‘Legislation Will Have Deadly Consequences’

Despite drug-related deaths rising, Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales had urged her colleagues to reject the bill in a statement prior to Monday’s vote, arguing that the legislation would unfairly target homeless individuals with substance abuse disorders, leaving them more likely to be incarcerated or paying out hefty fines that they cannot afford.

“I want it to be abundantly clear that this legislation will have deadly consequences,” said Morales. “While this legislation is moving forward without being studied, we have more than 50 years of data that demonstrates how the War on Drugs is a failure and that imprisoning people for substance use disorder doesn’t just destroy lives, it makes people 40 times more likely to die of an opioid overdose when, and if, they get out,” she said.

Morales was referencing a 2018 study (pdf) from North Carolina state prisons which found that formerly incarcerated people were 40 times more likely to die of an opioid overdose within two weeks of being released from prison.

The city councilmember noted that her own district has “seen the harsh impacts of the War on Drugs and the City’s unsuccessful attempts to solve it with increased police presence and incarceration,” and said real and compassionate solutions are needed to address the problem, such as bolstering funds for low-income housing production, social services, and “life-saving harm reduction” instead of jailing open-air drug users.

A separate analysis (pdf) of the bill also found that it would have some potential financial impacts on the city, leading to an increased number of crimes filed in Municipal Court.

“At a certain point, the City Attorney’s Office, the Municipal Court, and the contract Public Defenders (King County Office of Public Defense) may need additional resources to process the increased number of cases,” the analysis noted.

‘We Failed’

However, in a statement following Monday’s vote, Councilmember Sara Nelson said officials had failed the city.

“We had one job — conform to state law making drug possession and public use a gross misdemeanor – and we failed,” she said. “As a result, the City lost out on a crucial new tool to get more people into treatment and reduce the negative health and safety impacts associated with consuming deadly drugs in parks, on sidewalks, and on public transit and other public places. ”

“I’m disappointed that for the time being, the majority of Councilmembers have chosen to stick with the status quo that’s claiming more and more lives every day,” said Nelson.

Elsewhere, Davison, who introduced the bill, said she was outraged by the result of the vote and accused some city councilmembers of taking “no action” to address the opioid epidemic in Seattle.

“What we’ve been doing is not working,” said Davison. “Our buses, parks, and sidewalks are filled with individuals who need help getting into treatment. Seattle will now be the only municipality in the State of Washington where it is legal to use hard drugs in public. That means drug use on public transit and in our neighborhoods will continue unimpeded.”

“Sadly because of the obstruction of these City Councilmembers, overdose deaths are likely to continue to climb,” Davison added.

The vote on the bill comes shortly after provisional data published on May 18 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 100,000 Americans likely died from drug overdoses in 2022, marking the highest number on record.