The Seattle City Council will debate if they should give the City Attorney power to prosecute drug possession cases, with a new city ordinance incorporating Washington state’s new law passed in an emergency session in May.
Davison is calling on the city council to approve her proposal, which is sponsored by Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen, that would apply the state law city-wide.
“Every day we wait, we do lose people to overdose. And that is really the point. The point is to save lives and to make our streets and parks safer … We want to get something that is available for getting people into treatment, and to intervene in antisocial behavior and to discourage public drug use,” Davison said. “There’s been nonenforcement of possession. And what we are seeing as the problem is public drug use is making our streets and our buses, and our parks unsafe.
Other councilmembers have come out against the ordinance. Tammy Morales issued a press release urging the city council to stop the “return to a failed War on Drugs in Seattle.” “I want it to be abundantly clear that this legislation will have deadly consequences. 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 peoplemore likely to die of an opioid overdose when, and if, they get out,” Morales said in a statement.
The King County Department of Public Defense, SEIU 925, the union representing King County’s public defenders, ACLU-WA, Evergreen Treatment Services, REACH, NW Immigrant Rights Project, and PROTEC17 all joined Morales in urging the council not to pass the bill.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'Cop City' vote: Atlanta City Council to vote on budget for projectThe Atlanta City Council will vote on allocating up to $31 million to 'support the continued construction of and improvements to' the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Read more »
Atlanta project decried as 'Cop City’ gets funding approval from City CouncilAtlanta City Council has approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, rejecting the pleas of hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project they decry as “Cop City.” The vote is a significant victory for Mayor Andre Dickens, who has made the $90 million project a large part of his first term in office, despite significant pushback to the effort. For about 14 hours, residents again and again took to the podium to slam the project, saying it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-Black area.
Read more »
Atlanta project decried as 'Cop City’ gets funding approval from City CouncilAtlanta City Council has approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, rejecting the pleas of hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project they decry as “Cop City.”
Read more »
Atlanta City Council OK's funds for police and firefighter training center critics call 'Cop City'The Atlanta City Council has approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, known by activists who fiercely oppose the project as 'Cop City.'
Read more »