The Seattle City Council voted 6–3 Tuesday to align the city’s municipal code with a 2023 state law making public drug use and possession a gross misdemeanor and give the City Attorney’s Office authority to prosecute those crimes.
Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Andrew Lewis, Debora Juarez, Sara Nelson, Alex Pedersen and Dan Strauss voted in support. Councilmembers Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant voted against.
Supporters argue the legislation is a critical tool for addressing a worsening drug crisis and that language in the bill is meant to push people with substance use disorders to treatment. Opponents say it’s a return to a failed drug war tactic that will incarcerate drug users and disproportionately impact Black and brown residents rather than provide people the help they need.
Tuesday was the Council’s second attempt to align city municipal code with state drug possession laws. In June, a bill co-sponsored by Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen at the behest of City Attorney Ann Davison was voted down 5–4. In a last-minute turn that killed the June bill, Councilmember Andrew Lewis said that while he supported aligning state and city law, he could not support a bill without a stronger plan for treatment.
In the intervening months, Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Lewis co-sponsored a new version of the bill that places greater emphasis on diversion and treatment and attempts to outline the “last resort” conditions under which officers should arrest drug users.
In its simplest terms, the passage of the Council bill puts the state drug possession law into Seattle’s Municipal Code. The law states that public drug possession or use is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000. For someone with two prior convictions for drug possession, the maximum penalty can increase to 364 days.
By adopting the language of the state law into city code, the council granted the Seattle City Attorney’s Office authority to prosecute drug possession charges. When drug possession was a felony in Washington, that authority resided with the King County Prosecutor.
Hellbound and Down 