Cities, county look to step in after state balks on Blake bill

EVERETT — Leaders of several cities and Snohomish County are moving quickly to fill the void created by state lawmakers’ failure to agree on a statewide strategy for dealing with illegal drug possession.

Count Sultan mayor Russell Wiita as among those happy the issue, for now, is being left to cities and towns.

“The bill that was in front of the House would have set us backwards,” Wiita said. “Sending this down to local jurisdictions is a challenge, no one’s arguing that, but we’re going to be in a better place than what we would have been in with that bill.”

Wiita said that Sultan will begin to explore its own laws regarding controlled substances in May. They could very well join Marysville, Arlington and Lake Stevens as cities in Snohomish County with laws on the books to arrest people for simple drug possession. Everett could join them in a few days.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/cities-county-look-to-step-in-after-state-balks-on-blake-bill/

Oh what a final night as Blake fix fails and a GOP leader exits

OLYMPIA, April 24, 2023 — Another session is in the books. And an on-time finish too.

-snip-

Until the last hours of Day 105 when the Blake bill diagramming a state strategy for dealing with illegal drug possession went kaput.

Democrats had stitched together a compromise. Apparently not tight enough as the measure, Senate Bill 5536, died in the House at the hands of 15 progressive Democrats and the 40-member Republican caucus.

Progressives didn’t like the penalty, a gross misdemeanor, which they deemed too harsh.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/oh-what-a-final-night-as-blake-fix-fails-and-a-gop-leader-exits/

Editorial: Drug bill’s failure leaves law to cities, counties

State lawmakers — in rejecting a crafted compromise in the session’s final hours that would have made possession of illegal drugs a gross misdemeanor while allocating $271 million to bolster access to treatment — appear content to allow county and city governments to take the lead and go their own ways on attempting to balance enforcement and treatment as communities continue to confront the effects of addiction to opiates, meth and other drugs.

That’s a high-stakes wager that is likely to result in a range of laws and approaches that could lead to unpredictable consequences for communities and less certainty in encouraging those struggling with addiction to enter needed treatment and break that disease’s hold on their lives.

A legislative fix was sought following the Washington state Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling that found the state’s felony law on drug possession was unconstitutional because it could convict someone who unknowingly possessed narcotics. The Legislature adopted a stop-gap measure that reinstated possession as a misdemeanor, punishable by jail time of up to 90 days and a $1,000 fine.

Local jurisdictions, correctly, said that level of consequence simply was not enough to persuade those with addictions to agree to referrals for treatment and its satisfactory completion. At the same time, the stop-gap law further complicated the work of law enforcement and social workers who could only refer someone for treatment during the first two contacts for possession before an arrest was allowed, a requirement that wasn’t practical.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-drug-bills-failure-leaves-law-to-cities-counties/