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On May 15th Renton City Council voted unanimously to place a new drug ordinance on second and final reading at the May 22nd Council Meeting
In a suprise recovery, the Washington State Legislature succeeded in getting a new drug law approved through both chambers and then signed by the Governor over just two days. The special session was convened at least in part to try to prevent every county and city across the State from coming up with their own drug ordinances.
Renton’s ordinance is complete and simply needs a second reading and council roll-call vote on Monday, followed by the Mayor’s signature on Tuesday to become law. Some residents are wondering if this will still happen given the State law that just passed.
I think the Renton ordinance can and should still go forward, and Ruth Perez, a council member I spoke with, shares this view. Council Member Perez reminds me the new state law specifically gives cities the authority to control drug paraphernalia, and Renton’s ordinance includes this element. Controlling paraphernalia is important for at least a couple reasons. It’s dangerous for smoking-pipes and heroin needles with residue to be lying all over parks and sidewalks where children and others can access them and potentially overdose on them, and it’s easier to prosecute public drug consumption if paraphernalia is itself a crime since often the drugs are consumed by the time the officer is present to make an arrest.
The City’s ordinance on drug use possession and public use has many similarities to the State law, with both of them categorizing the crimes as gross misdemeanors while providing numerous charging and sentencing diversions for those willing to go into drug rehab. The most obvious difference between the State and City versions are that the State created a special sentencing arrangement that makes the maximum sentence for the first two offences a six-month jail sentence instead of the one year maximum normally associated with gross misdemeanors. In reality this difference is very minimal because judges will very rarely give the max sentence for the first one or two offences; the maximum sentence is used as a deterrent to warn chronic offenders against repeated behavior. The state also lowered the maximum fine from $5000 to $1000, but again judges were not expected to be levying maximum fines on often-indigent drug users anyways.
The city’s ordinance is 8 pages long, and the State law is 49 pages long. The last 38 pages or so of the State Law identifies numerous new programs and funding mechanisms that are being created to assist with rehabilitation and temporary housing of people addicted to drugs. Treatment of drug users is in everyone’s best interest, so these programs will hopefully prove to be of value across the State. There is some language about the siting of rehab facilities and methadone clinics that slightly reduces city control over location and size, and could prove controversial upon implementation. If all cities and counties participate fairly in treating their own residents, without sending people to other cities for treatment when they should be helping them themselves, then I think these controversies will be minimized.
I understand from Council Member Ruth Perez that the City Attorney’s office is reviewing the City ordinance in light of the State law to see if any changes should be implemented in the City ordinance before final adoption. The ordinance already contains boilerplate language that says that if any parts of the law are in conflict, the state law will prevail but the rest of the city law remains in effect. This language would take care of the differences, but it’s possible the attorney could recommend minor modifications to the ordinance now to make the penalties (maximum sentences and fines) align with the state law. I’ve seen minor modifications to ordinances occur between first and second readings in the past, often when the attorney or a council member notices an issue, and this seems to me to be a good way to handle any modifications desired. If I were still on Council I would be pushing to adopt the ordinance on schedule on Monday May 22nd.
The new State law can be found here
The new City ordinance (unapproved at this point) can be found here
The truth is, drug laws have systematically ensnared BIPOC communities while conveniently turning a blind eye towards similar issues in predominantly white and Asian neighborhoods.
Renton’s ordinance and its focus on paraphernalia control may sound like a strong local response, but let’s be honest, who’s more likely to be targeted? The kids going to McKinight or kids going to Renton Highshcool?
We can’t ignore that it’s often those with the means to afford good lawyers who benefit from such leniency.
The potential controversies about rehab facility locations echo the notorious ‘not-in-my-backyard’ sentiment. Translation: ‘Sure, we want rehabilitation, but let’s keep it away from our white-picket-fenced neighborhoods.’
The right-wing conservative narrative here is clear: maintain law and order, but let’s not talk about systemic issues like social inequality and healthcare access that actually drive addiction. So while we pat ourselves on the back for these ‘progressive’ laws, let’s also ask, who’s really paying the price?
Not wanting to have to deal with used drug needles in the playground isn’t just a ‘conservative’ issue. It’s a human issue.
Also, have you tried not being racist?
The truth is that some (not all) have used the BIPOC communities to pass crappy laws instead of trying to improve themselves.
SUMMERBOI
Your hatred of white people is showing and it’s also racist in case you didn’t know.
None of us want people of any color to die on the streets from the use of these drugs.
We would all welcome mental health and treatment centers in Renton as long as the Renton addicts are actually taken care of there.
Give me details of the “social inequality and healthcare access that actually drive addiction. ” you keep throwing around. There is no inequality in drug addiction, it’s for anyone who chooses it. Nobody forces anyone to become addicts.
Your claim about no healthcare access is also bullshit. Every single homeless person who wants free health care can get it. Any clinic or hospital they go to will help sign them up for Medicaid or tell them how. They all can have free phones with free unlimited internet. They can use that to sign up.
And claiming that white homeless addicts can afford lawyers and therefore get off charges while black people can’t is another lie. I’m pretty sure all homeless addicts are broke and stealing for their drugs regardless of color. But all can have free lawyers in court.
These new drug laws are to reverse and correct the extreme knee jerk reaction by legislators during 2020.
To protect the few BIPOC addicts compared to the massive amount of white addicts, our government decided to give them all freedom to lawfully commit suicide with their new legal drugs.
There are no Mothers who want their son or daughter to be allowed to legally do these drugs and die on the street. They’d rather see their child in forced treatment or jail where there is at least a hope their child can be saved.
Are those the rights you’re standing for? Do you think it’s ok to just keep letting them die on the streets? Because without jail or treatment the only other option is death.
I know! Let’s just ask city council and legislators to not have these new laws be enforced against just the BIPOC community. Would that make you happy?
If it’s who I think it is, “SummerBoi” is about as basic white as you could get. Weird attention-seeking pronouns and all.
Even though the State did pass a Drug law, contact your Council member to let them know that Renton needs a law on the books against public Drug usage. Without something on the books, what is to stop this exact same situation happening again.
Randy, we must be very careful to set up the treatment element so that applicants are held accountable.
I worked for DSHS in the 80’s and accepted the initial applications for drug and alcohol treatment (often including mental health) programs. The defense attorneys and judges used the applications as Get Out of Jail Free cards. Clients sent in many apps from each individual and called me from jail all day long. They did not seem to understand that they had to do something, such as getting sober. They asked for money but never asked about treatment. I will be happy to tell you how my administrator finally rescued me and set up boundaries against attorneys enabling and avoiding any accountability, which has to be the first step towards recovery.
Today is the day that the Renton Council decides to vote on the public use of drugs. If you haven’t sent an email, sign up and go to the meeting and be heard. Public drug usage is a Public Safety issue and needs to be controlled.